Toe The Line
by meekobuggy
Summary: Writer and part-time actor John Sheppard is asked to participate in a popular reality show while dealing with a divorce, family conflicts, and making sure his show keeps the fans happy. AU, John/OFC, Trope packed fun w/ adult content.
1. Chapter 1

**Authors Message: **Buggy and Meeko wish to thank you for coming to our story to read. This is one insane crossover realm and it all started as just something to entertain ourselves with and never actually intended on posting it anywhere until it suddenly became something of its own universe. FFnet only allows for 2 crossover fandoms to be indicated but this story is actually Stargate Atlantis & Stargate SG1 with NCIS and NCISLA. Now the story itself has _nothing_ to do with the actual shows but we do use the characters from them in ways similar to their personalities and canon backgrounds.

Being that FFnet also dislikes a great deal of formatting, we've had to go back and redo coding in all the chapters as we use 'Twitter' conversations in the story. Here is a quick reference for the 'Twitter' names and their users:

***ShepFlight1**_John Sheppard_ | ***Teyla_Emmagen** _Teyla Emmagen | _***AcieMoe** _Aracely Morales (OFC)_ | ***BetterThanTheCar** _Aiden Ford_ | ***notapilotjim** _Cam Mitchell |_ ***ValLuv** _Vala Mal Doran_ | ***BugSpray** _Rachel/Roach (OFC)_ | ***OfficialTTL** _Toe The Line show (similiar to US Dancing with the Stars, aka DWTS)_

There are more that is likely missing. If any readers come across any and would like them added here, please leave a comment/review. ANY reviews are greatly appreciated as this story has become rather a favorite for us.

Enjoy!

Love, Meeko & Buggy

* * *

><p><strong>*ShepFlight1:<strong>#HappyMonday Should I shave?

***Teyla_Emmagan:** *ShepFlight1 Yes you should. Network Execs are on set today. Bring me a latte on your  
>way please?<p>

***ShepFlight1:** *Teyla_Emmagan I'm late already!  
><strong>*ShepFlight1:<strong>My "boss" is asking for a latte, y/n?

***meekobb:***ShepFlight1 Its an excuse you can use if she complains!

***ShepFlight1:** *meekobb I should probably get her some chocolate too.  
><strong>*ShepFlight1:<strong>How do you drink your coffee? #CoffeeAddict

***toomuchbuggy:***ShepFlight1 Light and Xtra sweet like you!

***bugspray:***ShepFlight1 Just get dressed and call me later. Need you on something please?

***ShepFlight1:***toomuchbuggy sweet like me? *tastes self* Nah, SWEAT like me. #shower

***kytivafan:***Shepflight1 Hot?

John Sheppard made his way out of bed and made his way to the bathroom to take a quick shower. Tweeting was fun, but it was far too time consuming, especially since he had been writing until about 4 am and he was late for work. He took a look in the mirror and sighed. His beard growth wasn't _that_bad, but if he had to show his face, then he better looked good.

It wasn't as if he didn't have other things to do today; he had to meet with his divorce lawyer and discuss a script written by the new kid and try not to bash the kid's head in with it. It was bad. Terribly bad. Oh and call Roach for some reason.

After he was done in the shower, shaving himself and the like - still looking as if he hadn't shaved for a day, he tried to find some clean clothes in the mess that was his house. There were boxes everywhere and he hadn't bothered unpacking or putting them in closets because he didn't even have those yet.

***ShepFlight1:**Anyone seen my socks? #Hopeless

***Teyla_Emmagan:***ShepFlight1 Check your laundry. #NotTheMother

***ShepFlight1:** *Teyla_Emmagan You SHOULD come over and do my laundry! Great idea!  
>#howtotakeadvantageofassistant<p>

***Teyla_Emmagan:** *ShepFlight1 Not your assistant anymore  
><strong>*Teyla_Emmagan:<strong>*ShepFlight1 Hammond just walked on set. Where are you?

***ShepFlight1:** I love you too. RT *Teyla_Emmagan Not your assistant anymore  
><strong>*ShepFlight1:<strong> *Teyla_Emmagan Walking to my car. No coffee for you. There in 10 minutes.  
>#SpeedyGonzales<p>

***gossipqueen:***ShepFlight1 is it true you're divorcing? What about the ratings of your show? Worried?

Teyla stood by in the back as she watched George Hammond of _Hammond Networks_make his way around the set. She bit on the tip of her nail nervously when she noticed Dave walk in and prayed that John would get there soon before the man would start trouble for them.

He quickly made his way onto the set, holding a latte for Teyla and a cappuccino for himself. He loved the coffee shop on his way over; they were always quick and the coffee was to die for. "Morning everyone," he said and handed Teyla her coffee.

"Thanks," she said, as she looked back over at the 'office' set. "You better go and save the show from Dave before he pisses off the boss. I could only do so much with the guy."

"It's a miracle when Dave doesn't piss anyone off," John muttered and walked over to his brother who was talking animatedly with the network executive. "Morning!" He took a sip of his coffee and waited for Dave's pretense of them being close brothers.

Dave turned at the voice and frowned briefly, his eyes flashing cold before his usual mask fell back in place. "John! Great to see you around. Hey! I was just telling George here that you have a great arc for my character this season..."

He winced. He didn't just call Hammond 'George' and shot a look of frustration at his brother. Always pissing the wrong people off.

Mr. Hammond frowned as he glanced at the older Sheppard. He didn't comment right away as he needed the show, despite its falling ratings. "Does it have enough of an impact to help boost the ratings?" he asked, looking at John.

"Yes sir, Mr. Hammond," John nodded. "Me and the writers have set up a plot set around Dave's character, and Jack's character, both could very well be good season cliffhangers. We will end up splitting Dave and Jack up for the season end, and the other one... well it's still surprise." He smiled and took another sip of his devine coffee.

"If you have time, I'd like to hear about it privately so that I can determine the best way to market the show for the upcoming season," George replied, patting John on the shoulder. "Call my office and my secretary can set a date to meet."

"Will do sir." He replied and looked at his brother with a big, mostly fake, smile.

Dave kept an even smile on his face but sent his brother another glare. He needed to get rid of his brother somehow, despite him being the show runner and all, from the set if Hammond was to be visiting more often for the season to make sure everything flows right. "You know, Teyla informed me that the new celebrity dance show was looking for people this year."

"You'd be an excellent candidate, Dave, I'm sure you could make it work. It's just a few extra hours in the day." John replied. Dave was the face of the show, and he had had dance lessons when he was younger.

"With my obligations here, I said no to the casting lady - man she was _hot_! Anyway, I gave her your name, since you don't have anything important going on until mid-season when _Nick_shows up again."

He glared at Dave. Damn his brother. "You really have no idea how busy I am, do you?"

Hammond had already wandered away, and started speaking with Teyla in the distance. With the momentary privacy, Dave turned to John. "I don't give a damn how busy you are _brother_. I care about myself and keeping this job. I don't want you here and that's simple."

_I am the fucking reason you have this job,_ John thought and nodded. "Fine. I'll save your ass, because I _love_you." He'd find a way to make this work, if only it was to give the show more publicity.

"John!" Teyla called over at them, waving him over. She could see the tension in his face and knew that the _star_was starting up another bought of trouble.

"Go read your lines again," John softly muttered as he walked off towards Teyla. "Yes, boss?" He smiled sweetly with a thankful look on his face.

"Mr. Hammond here just reminded me about that _Toe the Line_ offer. I know you are busy with other events but we both think it would be great for the show and the network as it was just picked up by _HN_for the next three years."

_Three years?_John laughed in surprise. "Really? Three years?" That was great news, at least he wouldn't be out of a job for another three years but he'd have to get more writers - ones that don't fuck up - and more importantly, more ideas. He had thought they would go on for one more season and then be done with. He wasn't sure if he could deal with his brother any longer either.

John had received multiple complaints by the guest actors and extra's about Dave's almost diva-like behavior, and the other star; Jack O'Neill, was just being a trooper and despite his acting experience, he just let Dave rave on and be his usual self. Dave wasn't really that mean to his co-workers, it was just that he had a thing against John. And John had been dealing with his older brother for years. _I seriously need some therapy after this..._

"Oh no...You might have misunderstood," George smiled. "We have the show for three years but the seasons run about four months long, twice a year. Contestants are only on for the one season and can reappear as a guest after. Only the professional performers are on longer. I must admit it is a guilty pleasure of mine," he blushed.

_Ah, wrong show, great for them though!_John thought. "Yeah, I don't really watch the show, but ah, Dave is too busy and he said I had to do it."

"From what I've seen of it, you'd still be able to do a great deal of your charity work at the same time. Your partner would likely be traveling with you to make sure that you both practice. It would guarantee you being home at least two nights a week for the live show right here in Los Angeles," Teyla explained. "Oh I would love to see you on it!"

"Well, anything for the show and network," John said, hoped that his smile didn't appear too reluctant. "Yeah, I'll do it." He nodded. "I'll find a way to make time for my side projects and dealing with the writers of this show." He looked at the script in his hand. "Oh, now, if you'll excuse me, I have to find Katie in the writer's den and discuss this _wonderful_script of hers."

"Of course," Teyla replied with an eager grin. At least this would help get her friend away from his brother for awhile and already had begun to dial back the show's casting director to confirm John's participation.

John was always happy to walk into the writer's den. Or the war room, depending on what they were discussing. It was usually just him and a few of the other writers, but recently there were a couple of new ones too that were given the chance to write an episode and get it aired for extra points in school. However, for some reason, he doubted that the audience would like Katie's script and he was sure that Dave would kill her. "Katie! You look wonderful today!"

"Mr. Sheppard! I didn't expect you here..." Katie Brown answered with a confused look on her face. "I was eh... doing my homework and stuff..."

"Oh don't worry, you can continue doing that," John was glad that at the moment, Katie was the only one in the room. It was Monday after all. "I read your script over the weekend."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I told you I would, didn't I?" He sat down on the table and nodded. "If I was your professor, I would give you a high grade. The plot is well thought out, and despite the choices you've made, the characters are in character. However, I think I am going to choose someone else's script to be brought to live," he started and placed the script in front of her. "As much as I love your style, I doubt that Dave would like to see his character go undercover as a gay banker in a S&M club with Jack's character coming to the rescue..."

Katie blushed. "I'm sorry..."

"Oh, don't worry, you can always post it as fan-fiction!" John laughed. "I loved it, it's just not shootable."

"Do you read the fan fiction?" Katie sounded curious and John shrugged as an answer.

"I'm not really allowed to, I don't want to steal anyone's ideas but I know about the stories. And I know that most writers write Mike and Jason in bed together, living with Jason's wife and things, and I think it's great that this show inspires so many people to write. It's just not something the network execs would like."

He hopped off the table. "But keep trying though! Write something more generic then expand from there." John left the writer's den and bumped into Teyla. "I'm out for an hour or two, I'll be back."

"Kavanaugh?" she asked with a frown.

"New demands from _her_. She probably wants the clothes on my back too."

Teyla sighed. "I always felt she was trouble. I still can't believe that you're able to work here like its nothing after that and _who_she was with."

"My sweet Teyla," John smiled as he started to make his way out. "I may be a loser, but the show must go on!" He bowed and left to find his car and drive to his lawyer.

***ShepFlight1:**In front of lights in traffic. Have some great news soon. #scared

***Teyla_Emmagan:***ShepFlight1 Don't text and drive!

***ShepFlight1:** *Teyla_Emmagan Yes Mom!


	2. Chapter 2

***gossipqueencom:** *ShepFlight1 Is it true you found your wife with another woman?

***ShepFlight1:** Beautiful morning! Going for a run on the beach this morning.

***Bugspray:** *ShepFlight1 Call me you idiot!

John managed to get most of the sand off of him when he entered his house, sweaty and sand sticking to him. Checking his phone, he saw that his friend Rachel, or Roach, had called him at least a dozen times. Deciding to finally call her back - which was a hard thing to do because she was also friends with Nancy, he settled on the back porch. "Hey, you wanted something?"

"Can I tickle you for another appearance in my web series?"

"Depends," John replied and looked out over the sea. It was beautiful out here. He was glad he had been able to buy the house as it had been only on the market for a couple of days and it was in high demand. He knew he had made a great choice, it was isolated and no one knew where to find him. "How are you, Roach?"

"Oh come on, please? I'm fine. We need a monster!"

"Why don't you ask Nancy or Larrin? They'd be great monsters!" John chuckled.

"That's not fair."

"No, but it's funny... when do you need me?"

"Soon?"

"We'll see. Ask me again when you know a date." He hung up on her and went inside to take a shower and decided to go out for a late breakfast afterwards.

Yesterday's meeting with his lawyer had been everything he had expected. Nancy had always been a shark compared to him, always wearing the pants and whatnot. Her lawyer was even worse and they really wanted everything he owned, even the house he had just purchased. "They can't touch the house as you bought it after you split and with funds from your private account," Kavanaugh had said, which was a relief. But apart from alimony, John didn't want to pay her. She was trying to have the pre-nup declared faulty, mostly because she knew that he wouldn't ask her for money. She wanted everything and wouldn't back down. But it was _her_ that had been unfaithful to him, and got caught. Something that the pre-nup never covered.

So he had to pay her for the next five years. It could have been worse so he took that deal and ran with it. Sighing, John sat at the beach-side restaurant and played with his phone while he waited for his friend to show. When he looked up, he winced at the irritated look Rodney had on his face as he tried to locate the man amongst the seated crowd.

"Really? Have you been smoking crack or something?" McKay asked as he sat down. "Plus why _here_? Is this place even sanitary?"

"I've been smoking crack?" John asked. "What makes you say that? This place is great, Rodney, the view is amazing."

The man snorted as he eyed the menu. "Huh," he let out, actually finding some things he was interested in. "Oh uh - rumor is that you're going to do that dance show that Hammond just picked up. You do know that it's going to be suicide for your reputation."

"Did that rumor get out already?" John blinked as he shook his head. "Suicide or not, the ratings of _my_ show are falling like a ton of bricks, Dave thinks he's too good for it, and even though I don't want to, I need to do this... even if I fail miserably," he answered as he took a sip of his coffee.

"Well, you know I'll be there if only to check out the chicks in those short dresses," Rodney smirked.

"Did you just admit to me that you watch dancing shows? How _manly_ of you."

He looked up and glanced away briefly. "No. No no no. I've seen the commercials and the news programs seem to be obsessed with finding out who was casted and voted off."

"McKay... I have no clue what I've said yes to, haven't I?" John sighed and buried his face in to his hands.

"Cameras... hot chicks... cameras following you around, recording you when you practice and make a fool of yourself... Asshole just set you up to fail."

"I hate reality TV," John groaned. "I should have watched some of the show or a similar show at least before I said yes..."

Rodney frowned thoughtfully. "I think Jeannie has last season on tape. She's obsessed with the show. I'll call her later to see if you can borrow them," he offered.

"Gladly."

*Shepflight1: At brunch with friend. No clue what I said yes to yesterday. Help? #awkward

*BugSpray: *ShepFlight1 I offered you an out to whatever you're talking about.

*ShepFlight1: *BugSpray I need dates, woman, dates! As in Calendar, not women!

*BugSpray: *ShepFlight1 Damn.

Rodney looked up from his appetizer at John playing with his phone. "Who you texting?" he asked, munching on a piece of shrimp.

"My fans... and Roach... she needs a monster. I told her to ask Nancy."

"Oh! Tell her I said hi," he replied, with a slight blush.

*ShepFlight1: *BugSpray Rodders says hi and he's blushing. So, tomorrow night, 7 pm?  
>#settingupdates<p>

*BugSpray: *ShepFlight1 I don't know what to say to that other than...does he want to be my monster? *wink*

*ShepFlight1: *BugSpray protect him from citrus fruits and he'll jump through fire hoops for you.

*BugSpray: *ShepFlight1 Deal. Send him over!

"You have a date tomorrow night at 7pm." John said as he put his phone down on the table. "She likes McDonalds, Thai food, Mexican and ice cream."

"You didn't!"

"And you're going to be her monster in the next episode of her web series."

"Great friend you are."

"What? Roach is a peach. You like her, she likes you, I'm merely the magnet that will connect you two..."

***ShepFlight1:** "I'm merely the magnet that will connect you two" #tryingtobeprofound #settingfriendsup

***kytivafan:** *ShepFlight1 I love it! It's cheesy!

***meekobb:** *ShepFlight1 *kytivafan You want some wine with that cheese?

***gossipqueencom:** *ShepFlight1 Are you going to marry your friends?

***ShepFlight1:** .*gossipqueencom If I could marry my friends, all of them, my house would get so very  
>crowded.<p>

***Teyla_Emmagan:** *ShepFlight1 At least you'd have someone to do your laundry for you!

***ShepFlight1:** RT *Teyla_Emmagan At least you'd have someone to do your laundry for you!

"I don't get it, you're obsessed with this tweeting stuff."

John looked at his friend and smiled. "Nah, it's just a way to keep in touch with the fan base of the show, poking fun at each other and stuff."

"Hmm... if only if they met you in an environment you weren't comfortable, their dream of you being a handsome stud would shatter!" Rodney laughed and took a sip of his drink. "Oh, how uncomfortable you will be on your next... project... hilarious."

"I'm glad to be a source of your entertainment," John said reluctantly. "I'll be spending time away from the show and God knows what Dave will do to ruin it all."

"I'm sure that Teyla will keep an eye on him."

"He called the network exec by his first name yesterday! I mean, if someone like me would do it, it's fine, but Dave is so far down the ladder it's just inappropriate and he doesn't even seem to care!"

"Dave is Dave, you hired him."

"No, the casting director did after the actor who was first cast got into an accident and up until this day still hasn't recovered yet! Same with the actor who was supposed to show up and play 'Nick'."

"If I didn't know any better, Dave had something to do with it," McKay snorted as he tore into his steak like a bull. "My god! This sauce is amazing!"

"I told you this place is good."

"Hm? Oh yes, yes," Rodney waved him off as he tried to flag down the waitress. When she made her way over, he looked at her mid-bite, "Do you sell this sauce? Seriously you should like bottle it. Can I get some to take home? Please?"

***ShepFlight1:** Being shushed by friend who apparently loves the sauce. #Adorable

***meekobb:** *ShepFlight1 That just sounds sooo wrong! #guttermind

***ShepFlight1:** *meekobb I kinda expected that reaction from you! #mostdedicatedfanaward

***meekobb:** *ShepFlight1 Right - now I'm here totally #fangirling #soembarrassed

***ShepFlight1:** *meekobb I'm sure your boss will like you tweeting during office hours.

***meekobb:** *ShepFlight1 That's the great thing about being children book author with friends like  
>*toomuchbuggy We're our own bosses.<p>

***toomuchbuggy:** *meekobb *ShepFlight1 You know you could pay some attention at least while we're  
>outlining a new story.<br>***toomuchbuggy:** That's it, it's official, *Shepflight1 is a #liferuiner #jobinterrupter turning *meekobb into  
>goo like that.<p>

***meekobb:** *toomuchbuggy *ShepFlight1 Oh shush you! I seem to remember you stumbling over yourself when (crush) replied to your messages.

***ShepFlight1:** *toomuchbuggy *meekobb Enjoy the sauce. It's white and hot and it looks tasty.

***meekobb:** *meekobb *thunk* RT *ShepFlight1 Enjoy the sauce. It's white and hot and it looks tasty.

After lunch, John made his way over to the studios again, quietly entering the set as they were rehearsing a scene in the interrogation room. He loved seeing Jack O'Neill work. The man was subtle. Most people labelled him as a 'one trick pony' but the man was subtle, very smooth and good at what he did.

Teyla made her way over with a smile. "How was lunch with Rodney?" she asked as she replied to several emails through her iPhone.

"Why didn't you tell me this show was a reality program? Or at least a bit? And how does Rodney know about it already?"

"I assumed you knew what it was," she answered sincerely. "As far as Rodney knowing, who do you think would be one to leak that kind of information?"

"Well not you... I don't particularly like unscripted TV," John sighed as he looked at her. "I'll be in my office."

She nodded as she turned back to her phone and kept an eye on the performance. "You need to clear next Wednesday for filming for the show in revealing the cast. You're supposed to meet your partner the next day for practice," she announced to his retreating back.

"Tomorrow Wednesday or next week Wednesday?" John turned around to look at her. "Which is it?"

"Next week Wednesday John," she sang back.

"Pfew!" He entered his office, closed the door and started to prepare for Friday's read through of the next script they would be shooting that following Monday. There were a lot of other things to do, but he needed to do something simple first. More tedious things; such as answering the emails that he received and the ones that Teyla had flagged with 'important' would follow later. He did know that he wanted to go out to the soup kitchen later on the day to help them out by donating some food he bought in bulk. He'd have to stop by Walmart first.

John nearly jumped ten feet in the air when his door burst open and it revealed a furious Dave with a bloody nose. "Dave?"

"I am not a stuntman!"

"No, you're not." John tossed a package of tissues Dave's way but it hit him in the head. "It's just your nose, probably an accident."

"I want that guy fired!"

"I wish I could, but it's too late in the production process to find a replacement and we don't have the time to find another actor, please just go to the First Aid crew?"

"You son of a bitch! You will do as I ask you to!" Dave blurted and charged his desk.

Sure, John was afraid of his brother, the guy was taller and had a lot more strength in him than even Dave realized, but this was one thing John couldn't indulge him in. "Dave stop!" He got out of his chair and walked around his desk, trying to stay out of reach of his brother. "I can't help you with this! Now be a responsible, _working_ adult and go to the people of the First Aid. Take a break. Please."

Dave was about to storm out of John's office again, but he didn't leave until he punched him in the stomach. "Wanted to hit your face, but you're gonna need your baby face when you fail on TV," he remarked and then left.

John sat down on the couch he had in his office and sighed. _Christ that hurt! I hate my job..._ He fumbled his phone out of his pocket and called the secretary of Mr. Hammond, he still needed to talk to him about the extra cliffhanger that John had in mind.


	3. Chapter 3

***OfficialTTL:** Season 7 cast has been announced! Everyone excited for the new faces?

***meekobb:** *OfficialTTL You bet! My Mondays and Tuesdays are officially booked for two hours  
>each week! Looking forward to *ShepFlight1 shaking it!<p>

***ShepFlight1:** *meekobb *holds salt shaker* *shakes salt shaker* Like that?

***meekobb:** *ShepFlight1 … not quite what I was thinking ...

***ShepFlight1:** Yes, it's true, I'll be on #ToeTheLine. I'm sure my brother will be my biggest fan.

***meekobb:** *ShepFlight1 No offense to your brother but I watch #Masterminds for Jack and you!

***ShepFlight1:** *meekobb Jack is very pretty. So is my brother. I'm the geeky writer who sometimes  
>acts.<p>

***BugSpray:** *ShepFlight1 Our mutual friend isn't doing the monster. And YOU! I can't use a dancing  
>monster!<p>

***ShepFlight1:** .*BugSpray Fine. Sunday? I think I have time on Sunday. #Whowantstobeamonster

***BugSpray:** *ShepFlight1 No, it's my day off.

***ShepFlight1:** *BugSpray … no, you're going on a date with Rodders aren't you?

***BugSpray:** *Shepflight1 Maybe #damnyou #magnetthatconnectspeople

***ShepFlight1:** Success! I didn't burn my pasta! #greatcook

It was Wednesday night after John got home from the live filming of the cast announcement and while he didn't do anything but walk onto a stage and answer some questions, he felt physically exhausted. His phone was ringing off the hook from colleagues and friends coming out of the woodwork to see if it was a joke or to wish him luck but it made him just turn it off and throw it on his bed as he walked past it to take a long hot shower before calling it a night. He was _not_ looking forward the following morning as he set the alarm for 04:00.

When his alarm clock went off, the first thought was to throw it out of the window, and then when the beeping continued he got out of his bed and turned it off. He sleepily walked to the kitchen to make some coffee, but forgot to put the grounds in the filter so he waited the ten minutes for just hot water. He shaved, got into some clothes and turned on his phone again, it was exploding with text messages and voice mails and decided that he was going to hand over his phone to Teyla and get himself another one for the time being.

***ShepFlight1:** No, it's not a joke. Yes, I'm really doing it. Too sleepy. #needcoffee

***AcieMoe:** At the studio bright and early! Waiting to find out who my partner is going to be!

Aracely Morales, _Toe The Line_'s newest professional dancer to join the cast sipped on her coffee from her thermos. She walked circles around the large empty room, stretching out her limbs as she thought about the possibilities. She didn't follow popular media very much other than Twitter with a few friends and others from the show she'd met early on so she had no clue who the people were that were on that season.

The cameraman that was there to film the pair's meeting had been watching out the window, making sure that Ace didn't try to peek before he picked up the camera and grinned at her. "It's showtime!"

She nodded and wrung out her hands and focused on a couple last minute stretches on the balance bar along one of the mirrored walls.

***ShepFlight1:** You know, I've never seen a dance studio from the inside. #cold #white #blue #ohnostairs

John put his phone back in his pocket as he climbed the stairs with his coffee in hand. He didn't do early rises very well and he was beginning to have second thoughts. _Too late to back out now_, he thought as he opened the door to the main dancing area, filled with mirrors. _Crap_ There was a camera man, _double crap_, and the tiny young woman he had met the night before, but he couldn't remember her name. "Hi... I'm John..."

"Aracely," she grinned as she made her way across the floor, holding out her hand. "You can call me Ace!" she bounced, full of energy. "This is going to be a blast! Trust me, you'll be loving this before you know it!"

He shook her hand and plastered that fake smile of his on his face. "So they say," he nodded. "Nice to meet you."

"You're not an athlete or anything are you?" she asked, smiling nervously.

"No ma'am, I'm a writer and occasionally an actor."

Aracely narrowed her eyes as she studied his face more. "Forgive me. I don't watch much television but I _think_ I've seen you before._Masterminds_ right?"

"Yes ma'am, that's my show," he smiled. "I don't watch much TV either, to tell you the truth."

"Then that will just mean we will have more time to practice and less distractions, right? Are you ready to get started?" she asked.

"Are you sure _you_ are ready? I don't move that well," he finished his coffee and remembered that during the first dance married to Nancy, he stepped on her toes repeatedly, causing her to switch from her beautiful heels to sneakers for the rest of the night because he made her feet hurt.

Aracely's smile grew again and nodded. "Yep. Our first dance for night one is supposed to be the Viennese Waltz. What I was thinking, was to get you comfortable with the steps as much as possible right off before we try to give you a taste of the more energetic styles. The camera guy is going to be randomly while we practice to shoot some footage. Trust me, he won't be staying for the whole session," she smiled. "Of course the other _big_ thing to do today is get a little twirl or something set for the credit sequence for the show."

"You're the boss," he nodded. "I must warn you though, I step on toes."

"Eh, that's not a problem. I'm used to being stepped on. Just keep in mind the I step back," she winked and laughed into the camera.

John was glad when the camera man finally left. That was one thing out of the way. He was used to camera's, obviously, but then he was acting, not being himself.

Taking a short break for water, Aracely sighed. "Thank god he's gone," she commented. "No offense, but I am not a fan of prying eyes during practice. It's too distracting."

"Not a fan of cameras, period." John said as he sat down. She had taught him some steps already and right now he had the feeling that he was already forgetting them.

She smiled at him as she passed him a bottle from the cooler. "You signed up for a lot of them," she pointed out.

"So my friends told me," he chuckled. "I had no idea what I was saying yes to."

"Have you had the chance to watch any of the previous seasons?" she asked, settling down next to him as she pulled her hair back into a rather messy ponytail.

"I was planning to, my friend gave me some tapes to watch, but I've been busy all week with the TV show and dealing with the network... I had to do something at least to make sure I could have yesterday and today off."

She sat there thinking for a long moment. "You want to get out of here? My house actually isn't far from here. We could do some studying with the tapes and practice some more there - I have a small studio in my basement. No cameras for the show...Promise!"

"Sure, why not," he chuckled.

Aracely slapped him on his knee before pushing herself to her feet. "You could follow me that way you can go home straight from there," she said as she went to pack up her CD book and gym bag. She hadn't thought twice about inviting the man back to her home for practice. He was nice enough if not more withdrawn than she would have liked despite the jokes he made for the camera.

Pulling into her driveway, she hit the garage door opener and parked inside with enough space for him pull in along side and not keep his car out on the drive at the risk of snoopers. "See, not far at all," she joked as she opened the door that led into the studio room.

"Wow, nice house," he noted as he closed the door of his car and followed her in.

"It's home," she shrugged. "More room than I care to really have but having the extra rooms comes in handy when my old partner crashed here after rehearsals." They walked into a room that was smaller than what they were in previously, two cameras fixed in the corners along the roof angled into center of the room. With the mirrored wall on the one side, it provided a full 360 degree view when viewed later of any movements made.

"Let's see. If you want to keep your stuff down here, we'll come back down after we watch the professional competition at least," she suggested. "We could also have lunch while we're at it."

"I didn't bring any stuff," John replied and shrugged. "But the rest of it sounds like a plan."

"Future reference," she started as she started up the narrow stairs that went up to the living space. "Bring two pairs of work out clothes, for cool and hot weather. Also have regular clothes to be able to change into especially if you have plans for after we're done together."

"Right..." he said slowly and started to think. Half his clothes were still packed in boxes. He'd have to ask Teyla if she knew where most of his clothes were so he didn't have to go through all of them. "Anything else?"

"Water. Lots of water. Also, if you go clubbing, I suggest you start cutting that back to get to bed early," she said pushing the door open at the top of the stairs and walked into her living room. "Make yourself at home."

"No clubbing, just supplying a soup kitchen every week."

Aracely had already stuck her head in a small closet of video tapes and peeked around the door at him. "You're joking right?"

"What? I'm an actor, writer and creator of a hit tv series so I must go out clubbing?" John snorted.

"No, not at all. Admittedly, I didn't think that you would be so …" she said, unsure of how to say what she thought. "It's not bad. Just surprising."

"Soup kitchens and some homeless shelters... and if I feel cuddly I go to the animal shelter to pay some attention to the pets there," he said as he sat down on the couch. "Beats clubbing, stupid noise."

Finding the tapes she wanted, she turned and looked at him hard. "Are you single? Because you sound like man after my own heart," she teased.

"Ah, not yet." he replied truthfully, and that was all he said about the matter. "You always wanted to be a dancer?"

"As long as I could remember," she grinned as she put the tape in the VCR. "Sit back and relax. Salad okay for you? I have a lot I made yesterday to last me a couple days."

"Yeah sure," he nodded, and looked around the living room as she disappeared into what seemingly was the kitchen. It looked cozy, girlish, but not too girlish. He liked it that she had made an effort in bringing a variety of colors into her home, and if he had to go by what he had experienced with Ace's behavior so far, it fit her perfectly.

Aracely set up a large serving tray with two bowls of the mixed greens after blending together a quick homemade dressing, set aside in a bowl that he could add it to his own preference. Making her way back in, she smiled. "Here you go! Eat up. I want to get at least another two solid hours of practice in before we're supposed show up at the studio for the promos."

"Whatever you say, I'm at your mercy," John nodded as he took a bowl and a fork from the tray. "Thank you."

"No problem. What kind of professional schedule do you hold? Because if we make it to finals, we're going to need as much time - nearly every waking minute to get routines locked to win," she said, drizzling the dressing over her bowl.

"I suppose I could miss a few hours here and there," John said. "I usually have regular office hours, well... not really, but nine to five, sometimes eleven to five, unless there's an emergency I need to take care of," he shrugged, knowing that if he would be away, Dave would somehow find a way to screw everything up. "I can give you more hours, but then I'd have to arrange a few things at work."

"I could always come to work with you and we could practice during breaks," she offered.

John chuckled and shook his head. "No, it's not like they need me on set, I'm usually hanging around there or in my office, or even in the writer's den... oh man..." He groaned. "They _do_ need me on set."

"Joys of being the lead writer," she grinned as she pointed to the television. Cameron Mitchell, the reigning champion, was on with his partner. "This is the dance we're supposed to be doing on the first night. I want you to pay attention to how he holds his shoulders and the way his arms are extended out. That's your biggest hump to get over right now. You have the grace for the dance and I'm positive we will have it in the bag but we have to clean up your rough edges."

He laughed heartily. "Grace!" He giggled. "That's the first time anyone mentioned 'grace' to me in a sentence when talking about me!"

"You're joking, right? Because after earlier, I have _high_ expectations for you," she said seriously.

"Oh, you're going to be so disappointed..." he hiccuped. "I'm sorry, it's just funny."

She flicked a piece of almond from her salad at him. "You'll be singing a different tune after the first night. You'll see. You want the trophy as much as I do. You just don't know it yet."

"_If_ we survive the first night," John said as he took another mouthful of the salad.

"We will. You need to stop thinking so negatively. You're better than you want to believe you are," Aracely shared. "I don't want you to talk like this again. Is that clear?"

"It's not negative thinking really," he answered. "But sure, if it makes you happy, I'll think about rainbows and pink elephants before I say something."

She sighed and looked at him. "I just want you to be more positive about yourself. Why are you so - I don't know, sour?"

"I'm not sour," John blinked at her. "Not intentionally anyway."

"Uh huh," she nodded and turned back to the television. She couldn't help but wonder about the man and why he would agree to do something like this style show that he clearly was not particular interested in despite his skills.

He couldn't believe his day right now. Not only was he in some stranger's house, he was watching dancing videos with her and she and him would be dancing again shortly. Yep, this had been one bad idea from the beginning. Rodney had been right, Dave had set him up for failure. His fake happiness was wearing off, this was a bad time to grow tired of himself. John decided to slow down on the salad, and use it for hiding purposes if she'd ask him something again. He never wished to be interrupted for emergencies, but he really wished that his brother would set fire to the stage or something and that John had to leave.

"I think we're going to have a problem with the one judge," Aracely said after they finished watching the comments at the end of several performances. "I can do traditional but then it wouldn't be as fun..." she added, making a face.

"You don't do the easy stuff?" John asked. "What did you do before this?"

"A lot of competitions really. I auditioned for music videos, things like that," she shrugged. "Choreographed a spoof scene on another show when they had a special musical episode."

"Sounds like fun," John said and took another bite of the salad. "My brother once acted on a series for this musical episode, it was fun to hear him try to sing. He can do many things, but singing is not his strong point."

She thought about it and wasn't so sure. "Some people just shouldn't do some things," she laughed. "But I like the competitive atmosphere. I really wasn't so happy dealing with the people there. The actors thought they could do so much better than someone who's trained for that since they were able to _walk_."

John nodded. His brother thought he was running the show because he was the main lead, and John was just his baby brother. "You can't please them all the time," he said and sighed. "And even though a little competition is fun, it's hard to stay on top of your game and beat the ratings."

"Ha! I thrive on it trying. Why _are_ you doing the show? It's not because you have a real personal investment I don't think," she asked as she looked him in the eye.

"I like to stick to the background, do what I want, act when I want in what I want without people constantly being in my face, I like my life as it is... it's just that my brother was asked first, and he thought I was less busy. Then my publicist said it was a good idea to do for the show and I couldn't really decline because the network exec was standing right next to me," he shrugged. "So basically, politics."

"Ah," Aracely nodded understandingly. "Yeah, that could make it less fun for you. Look, I won't force you to do anything you don't want to do, but if you are willing to see this through, I really would like to see you give your all. I really really do think that you are a lot better if you let yourself _enjoy_ it even just a little. It could go a long way."

"I don't think you'll allow me to down a few beers first, huh?"

She pursed her lips as she looked at him for a quick moment before jumping off the couch and went back into the kitchen. Coming back she had two bottles of a familiar green in her hands. "Heineken an acceptable 'contract'?"

"Oh, Dutch beer!" He grinned. "Yep, very acceptable, I like your taste."

"Does it earn me points for your trust?" she asked as she passed him his bottle. "I'll even make a deal that you can have one with lunch and dinner if you drink water the rest of the day if we can become friends through this."

He opened the bottle and took a sip of his beer. "I'll be doing much better in a couple of days, I promise."

"Who are you promising? Yourself or the beer because I don't take promises like that. I dance for myself because I love it. I don't do it for anyone else," she replied as she sat back down with her own beer.

John sighed. She was going to be hard on him, wasn't she? "Alright, how about this... I promise _you_ that I will do my best, dancing wise. I'm uncomfortable enough as it is, but give me a little bit of time to become the person I always am around my friends... I'm generally not as open or loud as you are."

Aracely only nodded. It wasn't long that they finished their lunch and watching a couple tapes of the performances and judges before she had them back downstairs in the studio.

John was tired by the time he eventually got home around 9 pm. It had been a long day and he knew there were probably more to follow. Even though all he wanted right now was to take a shower and go to bed, he decided to check his email to do a small part of his work he had planned for the following day.

***ShepFlight1:** So tired... checking email, tweet me a joke to make me laugh!  
><strong>*ShepFlight1:<strong> Yes, I met my dancing partner.

He was about to shut down his computer when Teyla called him, asking him how his day was and reminding him about the meeting with Mr. Hammond in the morning. He thanked her, shut down his computer and took a shower.

***ShepFlight1:** You're all so quiet. I'm heading to bed. #workingman


	4. Chapter 4

Two weeks of practices and rehearsals and Aracely had seen a lot of improvement in John, but she could feel he was still not letting himself enjoy it and she just _knew_ that he wanted to in some way. "Alright, let's take a break," she sighed, walking away from him as she went for a water bottle. She was irritated by something. She just couldn't put a finger on it.

"Something's bothering you, isn't it?" John sat down on the floor with his water bottle and looked at her. In the last two weeks, he had started to recognize the subtle movements of her body, more than anyone else, she talked more with her body language than with her words; even though she sure talked a lot too.

He had been getting a lot of grief from his brother lately, and Nancy's lawyer had found something to screw him over with - again. Despite the faith he had in his own lawyer, it wasn't nice. Nor were Nancy's voice mails. Roach wasn't even talking to him at the moment and Rodney was just laughing at him whenever he saw him.

However, he was glad he still had Teyla on his side. She had to work a lot harder now that he couldn't be around much, and she did it all without complaining. She deserved a raise, but with the network cutting their budget for the next season, he couldn't afford it. Masterminds was still going down in the ratings, and he knew that the problems weren't the scripts, from what he could tell was that the fans loved the stories, but they also said that there had been a slight shift in the dynamic between the two main characters and he was stumped.

On the plus side, he had bought closets from IKEA and was trying to put them together whenever he was at home.

"Your head isn't in it and we aren't even passed the first dance," Aracely spoke up, looking at him. "What's eating at you?"

"I can tell you what isn't?"

"Anything I can help with?" she asked.

"Nah," he smiled and took a sip of his bottle. "Very kind offer, but it's not something you can help with."

"How do you know if you don't tell me? Maybe something I say might spark an idea on how to fix whatever is wrong," she shrugged as she went to stand in front of him.

"If I tell you, you might think that I'm a pushover... well maybe I am," he shrugged.

She looked at him before nodding. "Talk to me."

"Well, there's my soon to be ex-wife who really wants to divorce me but her lawyer thinks that they can take what they want, despite the pre-nup... then there's all this stuff going on with my show..." He replied, taking another sip of his water. "It's been two months since I moved and I still haven't got my house in order, then there's _this_... which I'm actually starting to begin to like... don't smile like that!"

"Sorry, can't help it. Let your lawyer screw with your wife. That's what you're paying him to do - well - I didn't mean it like _that_ but you know what I mean. What problems do you have at work? I got to watch some episodes over the week. It's a good program."

"My wife doesn't do men, if that was the case... well... I'd probably still get a divorce," he sighed. "And thanks, yeah, it's a _good_program, it must be _great_ and yet the ratings are dropping."

"You probably wouldn't want to hear what my suggestion would be..." she commented, looking away.

"Let me guess, get rid of my loving brother?" John sarcastically chuckled.

"Yeah. Sorry. It just that his character doesn't seem to - fit - anymore, like it did the first season. Everyone has new skills or evolving in some way and as much as you try to write his to do the same, the person behind the character is too much of tightwad to move with the changes needed. What you need is a different leading criminal, someone that is a bit more - and this is my personal opinion - charismatic."

"Oh I know, it's what the network told me as well, they love 'Nick'... he's a character I ended up playing because the actor who was supposed to play him got into an accident the day of shooting... and they want me to take over as the lead, but I can't. Not with my duties as show runner. And I don't want to be committed that much to it. However, they refuse me bringing in a similar character, and I don't want to give my brother another reason to... - Never mind."

"You seriously give your brother too much. You need to figure out how to tell him to fuck off. Let him ruin his own career," she replied making a face. "Think of yourself and your needs for once. Not his need to grow his ego larger."

He knew she was right, and she wasn't the first one to tell him this. "Dave can get pretty scary, I'd rather have him take it out on _me_than someone else, on some other show. And yes, for a while, he worked as a main lead, but he truly is a one trick pony and at this point I'd rather have him destroy the show than firing him, I can always think of something else to make, but on the other hand, I'd be putting a lot of good men and women out of work..." John shrugged. "Anyway, he got what he wanted, I'm spending most of my time off the set now."

"Wait - what? What do you mean take it out on _you_? You seriously cannot tell me you let him abuse you..."

"Mom and dad allowed it when we were younger, I suppose it stuck around," he replied. "We seem like the great big happy family to the outside, but we really are not."

"Oh no, no. We can't let this go on. _I_ won't let you. You need to stand your ground. _My_ parents told me to never let anyone walk over me, not even them. If you feel that its best to write out your brother, then do it. In fact, now, you made me want to come to work with you even more - of course under the guise of practice," she stated firmly.

"Oh no," he shook his head. "You're not coming to work with me, work is my place."

"You're in my place of work," Aracely pointed out. "I give, you give. Give me your cell phone," she added, holding her hand out.

"Why?" He asked suspiciously. He knew he was not going to win this discussion and had to face the truth that she _was_ coming to work with him.

"Give me it," she repeated.

"Why?" He still had the upper hand, he was sitting down, there was no way she could reach for his pockets that quickly.

"So that I can add my number to it. If you feel the need to talk or just an escape, you can call, text, whatever."

John grinned and handed her his phone. "Do you tweet?"

"All the time!" she exclaimed. "What's your name? I'm _AcieMoe_."

"Great! I'm _ShepFlight1_, the number, not the letters... yeah it's stupid I know..."

"No its not. I think its cool," she shrugged as she added her number then dialed her own phone from his before he could take it back. "Now I have your number as well," she smirked.

"Aww," he sighed. "I should have gone for the number blocking option when I got my subscription," he grinned.

"Oh you like it," she replied as she reached out for his hand. "Come on. Let's get back to work. We have to get the routine down before we get back to the technical issues with you. Maybe I'll take you to my massage therapist so that you could learn how to relax those shoulders of yours..."

"Do we have to?" he pouted as he got up. "I usually run every morning but my legs are really sore," he chuckled.

"Yes. I'll even treat you to a full package if it makes you feel better. You really need to let _a lot_ go. You carry way too much than you really need to."

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, talking just now helped."

"Good. Now let's get back to work because I want that trophy!" she replied, slapping John on the ass and walked back to the center of the room after he finally stood.

***AcieMoe:** Another long day of practice! A lot was accomplished and not just in the routine but in the  
>mind too!<p>

***ShepFlight1:** Got worked hard today. *groans* Who wants to go for a relaxing swim in the ocean with  
>me?<p>

***AcieMoe:** *ShepFlight1 Is that an open invitation? *wink*

***ShepFlight1:** *AcieMoe bring your bathing suit, I have the beer. Leave the instructor part of you at home!

***AcieMoe:** *ShepFlight1 *pouts* I wanted to practice lifts like they do in #DirtyDancing!

***ShepFlight1:** *AcieMoe In your dreams.

***meekobb:** Oh! Are my eyes deceiving me? *AcieMoe being *ShepFlight1's dancing partner?  
>#squee<p>

***toomuchbuggy:** *ShepFlight1, you've just done it again. *drags *meekobb away from the phone* We  
>have a deadline woman!<p>

***ShepFlight1:** On my way home today I bought a dozen of 5 different children's books. Going to make  
>packages and drop them off at local schools tomorrow.<br>***ShepFlight1:** I actually enjoyed the cover art for "My bug is an alien"

***meekobb:** *ShepFlight1 You're kidding, right?

***ShepFlight1:** *meekobb Nope, I might even read it before I go to bed tonight! #silly #grownup

***meekobb:** *ShepFlight1 *toomuchbuggy and I wrote that! #flails

Arriving at the address that John had texted her, she sat in her car a moment and looked at the property. It was as she expected of a greatly private man despite his activities online.

Grabbing her bags from the backseat, having had picked up some extra food on the way, she made her way to the door.

John looked at her when he opened the door. "You came!" He said surprised.

"You invited me," she smirked as she got in. "I brought us some food and wow, this place is a mess!"

"I invite people over all the time, they never show up."

"Well, you see where I live, I see where you live..." She turned around to face him. "This place, is a mess." Ace said slowly. "You do know that a clean house is the start of a clear mind, yes?"

"No, you came here for fun, so, go through that door," John smiled as he gently pushed her towards the back door. "The deck is clear, and it has chairs, and a table... and there's the beach and sea."

"But!"

"No, my house, my rules. Out." John turned around to grab his six pack of beer off the kitchen counter and followed her out on the deck. He sat down in one of the chairs and handed her a beer before opening his own.

Aracely rolled her eyes as she settled down and sipped her beer. "This is really nice. Soothing even," she commented on the view.

"Yes, so we're not going to move my boxes," he kicked off his flip flops and slouched on his chair. "I still can't believe you came over."

"Why wouldn't I? Were you expecting me to flake on you after everything we talked about?" she asked as she reached for one of her bags and pulled out a box of granola bars and tossed him one. "We are friends now, right?"

He looked at the granola bar and shook his head. "Not if you bring me granola bars," he smirked and then moved to light the bonfire that served as a grill too. "Do you like steaks?"

"Oh yes, I just don't get to enjoy them as much as I would like. Dancer's diet after all," she shrugged. "Want me to help with anything?"

"No, you sit back and relax, I'll just get the steaks." He walked back inside and headed for his fridge. He had been planning to eat the steaks all by himself after taking a swim in the ocean, but he didn't mind sharing. John grabbed some plates and cutlery and managed to balance a bottle of barbecue sauce on top of the pile in his hands.

"You don't want to go for a swim first?" she asked, eying him. She knew he was attractive. Even when she saw him on the show in a glance but she never really saw just how much so as a person. The actors she met time to time before weren't so much for the fans as he was, or for the general people and she couldn't help but to smile at the thinking about how much work charity work he gives his name to.

"Well, that's an idea too," John nodded. "Oh! Maybe you'd like to come along tomorrow? I'm going to bring a stack of books to about a dozen of schools. I bought them on my way back from you."

"Sure. I just have to stop by the TTL office tomorrow in the morning to pick up our video cameras. They are giving us personal cams for some behind the scenes type footage from our point of views. We can film a little of that," she suggested.

He put everything on the table in the shade and shook his head. "No, we're going to a school. Parents would have to sign permission slips for their children being filmed and stuff like that. No way. Just you and me, with no ulterior motives."

"No problem," Aracely replied as she stood. "Come on. Let's go for a swim. Work up an appetite for those steaks!"

He pulled off his shirt, tossed it on his chair and grinned at her. "I'll race you!" John darted off towards the sea.

She quickly pulled off her stop and shorts, revealing her modest bathing suit as she charged off after him. She just reached him at the water and went straight for him, wrapping her arms around his waist as she pulled him down in the water with her. "I got you!"

John laughed. "Okay so you're short _and_ fast!" He loved the way that the sea water immediately seemed to relax his muscles and made a mental note to take advantage of the warm nights as much as he could in the next couple of weeks.

"I have to be," she replied as she came up from waves, pulling her hair back out of her face. "Just wait until we get the Jive or Quickstep. You'll understand then!"

"Those are the faster dances?" He let himself float on his back and closed his eyes as the sun seemed to warm everything around him.

"Yep. And very technical dances but they can be very fun if you can maintain the pace needed. Personally, I like the chacha more and I have the title for the rumba."

"Hmm," John smiled. "You should wear foot protectors, pillows on your feet or something, if we ever come that far... no wait... we_will_ come that far but I would suggest you stuff your feet into pillows for your own protection?"

"I'll be fine. I'm just concerned about you, if you'll be able to handle it. We have one week left before the first show then we have a new dance to learn each week after that."

He opened his eyes for a bit to see where she was at and splashed some water in her direction before closing his eyes again. "Relax, no stress allowed in the water."

Aracely grew quiet as she dipped under the water to swim under where he was floating and flipped him over in the water. "Come on. There is plenty of time to relax. Let's have _fun_."

John got up and grinned. "There's no off switch on you, is there? Don't you just ever stop and relax? Enjoy the moment? You know, the way the water bumps into your body, or how the sun heats your skin?"

"Sitting still was never one of my strong points," she shrugged. "Need to find ways to release the extra energy. That's why I dance - a lot."

He stood behind her and put his hand over her eyes. "Breathe, ignore me, but feel everything else... hear everything else, like the seagulls and the water getting in contact with your skin and then tell me, that that's not worth while to sit still for a while for."

She let out a deep sigh as she humored him. It did not take long when she started to grow antsy and her hands started fidgeting in the water. After that, she started to hum the tune to the song they were supposed to dance to the following week as it had been stuck in her head from all the practices they had and she did on her own to get the choreography perfect.

He removed his hand from her eyes and turned her around. "You are impossible," he chuckled. "I say ignore everything else and you start humming the song!"

"What can I say. I had ADD as a kid. Never really outgrew it."

Shrugging, he splashed some water in her face and gently pushed her back into the water before swimming away from her.

They spent some time in the water, trying to pull each other under and splashing water in each other's faces, and John had to admit, it had been a while since he had had so much fun. As the sun started to set, he made his way out of the water to start putting the steaks over the fire and opened another bottle of beer as he sat down to keep an eye on the steaks and let the air dry his body.

Aracely followed not long after he left, diving under the water a few times before heading back and toweling herself off. "How has work been?" she asked curiously.

"I haven't been there today," John handed her a fresh beer. "I'm going to stop by tomorrow morning and see if everything is still in one piece, although I'm sure that Teyla would have called me if something was wrong." he shrugged. "I've been replying to my emails though so I won't get too far behind or out of touch with the rest of the crew."

"Who is Teyla?"

"Oh, my assistant/publicist/brains..." he shrugged. "Good friend too, she's the only one of the people around me who hasn't made fun of me yet for doing the dancing." John sighed as he flipped the steaks. "I met her for the first time when I was working on a different show and we just clicked. She's my right hand, usually knows things that she couldn't possibly know and she's just... great. Her son is adorable too and her husband doesn't like it that I depend on her."

"Male and female relationships are taken so out of proportion at times. Many believe that the two can't be friends without having sex with each other," she replied. "But it is entirely possible. We're friends and we haven't slept together."

"Exactly," John nodded and took a swig of his beer trying not to choke. He couldn't believe she just said that. "Some people are still stuck in the dark ages."

"Well, dinner with a friend is what I am here for so - how are those steaks coming along?" she grinned as she inhaled her beer.

"Almost done, you might want to keep that towel over your legs in case you drip something," he nodded as he separated the plates. "So, tomorrow morning, I'm going to do my stuff, and then I'll pick you up around lunch for the books and then, after that I can be all yours."

Ace raised an eyebrow as she looked up at him as she wrapped her towel around her waist. "Really now? What shall a girl do with you?" she teased as she pulled out her phone with a devilish grin on her face.

***AcieMoe:** Hanging out with *ShepFlight1 and he just said he belongs to me tomorrow. What is a  
>girl to do? #WorkDanceWork<p>

John smirked as he got his phone out and saw her tweet.

***ShepFlight1:** *AcieMoe Incoming steak #food #hungry

***AcieMoe:** *ShepFlight1 #SoLongSinceGoodSteak #

***ShepFlight1:** Save me from the madness! #tweetingduringdinner

He laughed as he handed over her steak and the cutlery. "You're insane."

"I take that as a compliment," she smiled sweetly as she started cutting away and eating, light moans escaping from her from the steak's juices. "That's it. I'm taking you home with me and keeping you as a prisoner chef."

"You haven't had my pasta yet," he chuckled as he poured a fair amount of barbecue sauce over his own steak. "You might want to do other things than keeping me prisoner if you taste that."

"Hm, you may be right. I think I'd gain way too much weight if I kept you around," she agreed.

"Impossible with the amount of energy you have," He cut a piece of his steak and put it in his mouth. "You'd probably dance the calories right off again, and I'd have to feed you... again..."

"And that's a bad thing?" she laughed as she continued to work on her dinner. "This is good. No need for any sauce."

"It's just a steak with home made marinade," he chuckled. "You should eat more meat!"

Aracely shook her head. "As much as I would love to, no. It slows me down way too much when I need to rehearse. Can't deal with that, especially when my dance partner needs me to keep my speed up and weight down for lifts."

He shrugged and took another bite out of his steak. "You can have good food that's healthy for you, you just need to take the time to make it."

"Salad," she said simply and finished off her plate easily.

"And yucky granola bars."

"They aren't yucky," she pouted as she opened one to munch on indignantly.

"Oh, that's it! Tomorrow, I'll be bringing turkey sandwiches for lunch," he nodded and finished his steak.


	5. Chapter 5

***Teyla_Emmagan:** *ShepFlight1 CALL ME NOW! You have some explaining to do! #DamageControl

***BugSpray:** *ShepFlight1 Is it true? #Conflicted

***gossipqueencom:** You heard it here first! John Sheppard's divorce isn't final and he has a new girl already!  
>[LINK TO PHOTOS OF BEACHROMP]<p>

John woke up from his phone ringing. He had heard it before but had chosen to ignore it. His entire body ached and the swim in the sea hadn't done him any good.

"What?" He answered sleepily and hauled himself off the bed.

"John Sheppard!" Teyla exclaimed. "The tabloids are blowing up today! What's this about you and your dance partner hooking up at the beach?"

"Hooking up? What?" He yawned as he made his way into the kitchen.

"Photos! There are _photos_! With your arms around her in what appears to be very compromising positions! Your divorce isn't final! You know that she could use this against you?" she continued to berate him.

"Teyla, calm down..." he sighed as he started the coffee maker. "She was over for dinner last night and we had fun in the sea, that's all. Friends. I wouldn't even begin about starting to date someone." John walked around his house to find some clothes to wear. "How bad is it?"

"They are already calling for confirmation. I'm trying my best to fend them off but - you really need to get in explain it to Hammond yourself. He's been leaving hints around of how he wants to give the show over to you completely - meaning he wants your brother out. You know that the fool actually told him that he didn't want to work yesterday just because _he_ is the star? Hammond has me going over his contract to see about getting out of it as soon as he could."

"You should have called me yesterday. I've talked to Hammond about the cliffhanger for this season in which Dave gets killed off," he walked back to his coffee machine and switched it off. "I'll be there in ten minutes, if I can find some clothes to wear."

"Bah! I had no problem looking for outs for the man. Everyone and their mother wants him out of here. You really should consider taking the lead when you're done with the dance show. So - is she nice? Am I going to have to prepare announcements _when_ you give in?"

"I'm not doing it Teyla, I can't run the show and be the lead... and Ace is a friend. Nothing more, last night on the beach was nothing but innocent fun. She wanted me to loosen up and see me in my own environment because I have been an ass, and I thought that my house was remote enough for prying eyes to be discouraged."

"Yeah, yeah. Just get here and make it clear to Hammond that you're not sleeping with the girl."

"I'm on my way, woman!" John chuckled as he hopped into a pair of jeans and found a shirt he could wear. "Relax, breathe, see you in 10 minutes." He hung up on her and checked his tweets. _Crap_.

***ShepFlight1:** One; moving to a remote beach part of LA doesn't stop certain people to take pictures.  
><strong>*ShepFlight1:<strong> Two; it's easy for people to take said pictures out of proportion and create a circus.  
><strong>*ShepFlight1:<strong> Three; what do you do after a hard day's work? Relax with friends. #goawayworld

With that, he put his phone in his pocket and gathered some stuff he needed for the day and made his way over to work. Teyla should stop freaking out like that, it was bad for her health, and his. He needed coffee.

John walked into his office where he could hear Hammond talk to Teyla, who sounded as polite and calm as ever. "Morning."

"Mr. Sheppard," Hammond nodded as he eyed the man.

"I'm not sleeping with her, she's my dance partner and my friend, sir." He started. "And I'll deal with Dave."

"You are the one that helped devise his contract. Is there any loopholes that would get the show and the network out of it without consequence?" he asked, having accepted the explanation without comment. "After the issue with the stunt coordinator, I am not interested in keeping a loose cannon like him around. I don't give a damn about ratings if he is abusing my people like that."

"Wait, what issue with the stunt coordinator?"

Teyla glanced at Hammond before turning back to John. "This morning, they were going over a simple routine and while it was_Dave_ that missed a step leading into being unable to miss a throw, he received a very _light_ hit. He became his usual raging bull self and attacked Boomer. We had to pull him off the man and sent him home. Boomer went to the clinic to get checked out - I'm still waiting on the call back from the guard that accompanied him for his status."

John started to pace around in his office. "This is _exactly_ why Dave refused to go dancing, he wanted me gone for most of the time so he could do whatever he wanted."

"Regardless, he does not own the show or the people. I have the majority of the writing staff working on ways to write his character out. If I have to take him to court with everything that I have, he will lose. I just wanted to give you the opportunity to -"

"Mr. Hammond, Dave's character's death was the other cliffhanger, remember? I could try to bump it up, but other than that, there is no _legal_ way to get him out of his contract unless the stuntman or anyone else that he has hurt sues him. Since Dave got hit by his own mistake, I doubt that would fly."

"Yes," the older man nodded and eyed him carefully. "Do _you_ know anyone that is brave enough to step forward to fix this greatly overdue problem? It has gone on for far too long."

Teyla watched her friend carefully, unsure of the expressions that crossed over his face. "John? Do you need some time to think about this?"

"Teyla, give Boomer my regards, send him a basket and a raise or something. I'll go talk to Dave." John sighed. "I'm sorry Mr. Hammond, I'm sorry that I have been protecting Dave for so long and you're absolutely right. Who cares about the ratings? They've been going down for weeks and everyone tells me that I have to get rid of Dave. This is not good for the network if word comes out. Let me talk to Dave and see what I can do? I'll call you tomorrow, I promise."

"That's alright son, we'll try to fix this your way first. But then, you might want to bump that script up as a mid-season cliffhanger and prepare yourself to become the main lead alongside Jack. The fans want you. I already have a great show runner who could take over your duties, and he promised me that he'd work together with you on it should it be necessary."

"With all due respect sir, I don't -"

"I own your ass. I can be worse than your future ex-wife. Call me in the morning." And with that, Hammond left the office.

John looked at Teyla and sighed. "Call Dave, demand his ass in my office as soon as possible."

"And risk you getting beat up?"

John shrugged as he ran a hand through his hair. "We'll be fine."

"I'm not so sure about that, John..."

"Fine, I'll go over to his house."

"Alone?"

"Of course!"

"I'd rather you not... fine I'll call Dave."

John walked out of his office to craft services. Since everyone was either out shooting in the streets or home, it looked neglected and he was in need of coffee and food. He was suddenly doubting his capabilities as a show runner. He was a damn good one and Dave was ruining his reputation. He should never have agreed to the casting of him. Never. Ever. He wouldn't be in this mess if he had put a stop to it.

It was nearly an hour later that Dave made his way into his brother's office. "Your bitch there had me kicked off the set and now you want me back here! What gives? I ought to have _your_ ass fired for this bullshit!"

"Blaming a stuntman for your own mistake is hardly bullshit, Dave." John muttered. "Hi, how are you doing? How are your dancing things going on, John? Are you having fun?"

"Whatever. The bastard had it coming! I don't give two shits about your dancing and what you do. I did see those pictures though. Finally getting yourself some decent ass at least. Get everyone back here so we can shoot my scenes."

"Yes, you're not giving two shits about it even though you put me in that awkward position. Production has halted for the day, I just wanted you here so we could talk, you know... I'm your brother, but I'm also your boss and I want to know what your problem is."

Dave snorted. "You're my boss? I'll show you who is boss," he growled as he started for the man when there was a knock on the door. He glared at John before he went over and threw it open with a slew of curses. "Who the fuck are you?"

"Who are you?" Aracely threw back, fake sweetness in her tone as she assessed the man. "Ahh...never mind. I know who you are."

_Crap!_ "Now's not a good time, Ace, Dave and I are in the middle of a very important talk."

She smirked as she continued to take Dave in. "You know, you're not that impressive in person," she said to him. "Kind of scrawnier than I would have expected - then again they say the camera adds ten pounds but in your case I think its more."

"You're lucky I don't hit women, get out." Dave spat.

"No. You just beat the shit out of your brother that has done nothing but save your pathetic career whenever you fuck it up," she smiled and batted her eyes. "Some way to thank him for all he's done for you." Nearby, Teyla had been sorting through some paperwork and eyed the commotion before slipping away quietly to send a heads up to security.

"I shouldn't thank him, I _made_ him."

"Ace, stop it, please, you're only making things worse." John begged her. "I'll be fine."

She looked back and forth between the two but her expression was clear. She didn't believe that he would be _fine_ if she left. "When you didn't show up for our plans, I figured something came up here so I brought you something to eat and thought we could try to get a little bit of practice in with your hold."

"Not a good time," John wanted to walk towards her and move her out of his office, even if that meant that he had to physically carry her out himself. He looked over to Dave, who was looking dumbfounded but John could see that his anger was rising. "Dave, knock it off, please."

Aracely leveled her eyes on John and shook her head slightly. She worried too much about him and she wanted to hold things off long enough for more help to come or for Dave to really screw up to where she could actually do something _for_ John.

Dave growled as he made his way back over to John. "I do what _I_ want, I don't care that you have this mini and sorry excuse for a cheerleader trying to stall things for you but you can't get rid of me. It's in my contract."

"I don't even want to get rid of you!" John sighed. "I wanted you here so we could talk, just talk. I want to know what's going on. I'm trying to save your ass from the wrath of George Hammond and other network execs and that's it."

She couldn't help but to laugh. "Hammond? He's got his eyes set on this tool? Dude, I hope you have a good lawyer because when he has someone that he wants off a project, he never loses."

"Dave, whatcha doin?" John asked calmly and carefully backed away from his advancing brother. "Don't do this, if you do what I think you're gonna do, you'll end up ruining yourself." With no room to back off to, he sighed and closed his eyes. Dave was unstoppable; almost as if he was on PCP or something and staying calm didn't work.

Aracely's eyes grew as she looked around for something to try to help John. Wincing as she noticed an autographed baseball bat on display, she slowly started moving over towards it. When Dave raised his fist and struck John in the jaw, she grabbed it quickly and swung it at the larger man. "Leave him alone!" she screamed.

Dave took the bat from Ace with ease and he pushed her away, making her collapse into a bookshelf. "Ohh, a bat! Look John!" Dave grinned as he raised the bat in attempt to strike John, but before he could, four security guards made their way into the office and managed to subdue Dave.

Worried about Ace, John quickly made his way over to her and helped her up. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I'll be fine. Oh my god," she said looking at his face. She started to reach up to check him over, but was pretty sure that he fractured a cheekbone considering the swelling that already started. Her shoulder hurt but it was nothing that she hadn't experienced before and just focused on him. "We need to get you to the hospital. I'm sorry but he needed to be told off, I'm sorry. He's a ticking time bomb...Is he on drugs or something?"

"I was just thinking that... and I'm fine, I don't need to go to the hospital."

"Yes you do," she insisted as she tried to reach up to get a better look but her left arm wouldn't cooperate. "I think rehearsal is going to be cancelled today..."

John chuckled. "Yep. You're going to be going to the hospital to get checked out yourself."

"Go, Mr. Sheppard," one of the guards said. "We already alerted LAPD, they'll be taking Dave off our hands in a minute, and I'm sure they will understand that you've gone to the hospital."

"Thanks Tony," John sighed as he grabbed one of his sweaters off the sofa and made it into a make shift sling for Aracely. "There. I'll drive."

"Thanks," she said softly as she looked back up. "Uh, I think we should find someone else to drive. Your face is nearly twice its normal size John."

"I feel fine." And he did, which was probably the adrenaline talking.

Shaking her head, she wasn't so sure. "I'd feel safer if we had someone else taking us. Please?"

"Teyla?"

"Anyone."

John peeked his head into an office near the door. "Teyla? Are you okay?" His fearless assistant didn't look that fearless anymore. John let go of Aracely and made his way over to his friend. "Hey, it's over, don't be afraid, Dave can't hurt you."

Teyla flung her arms around him. "You're here!"

"Yeah," John chuckled. "I need you to drive me and Ace to the hospital, think you can do that?"

"Of course," she nodded. "Anything for you. I have _never_ seen him that out of control. I will um - while waiting for you, talk to Hammond to see if he wants to let some reruns air until we can get the show in order."

Nodding, John took her hand and walked out of the office, meeting up with Ace again. "Tell him I'll re-write the next two episodes in the coming days to evolve around Jack, I'll see what I can do for the rest of the episodes."

"Blow up Mike?" Aracely asked, hopeful.

"Or a fire, I don't know. As long as we don't have to use him."

She shrugged. "I doubt you will have to. Don't you have unused footage that could be spliced into something?"

"Well look at you, Miss Tyson!" John chuckled. "We'll see, right now, we have to get you to the hospital."

"You too!" she glared.

***gossipqueencom:** Rumor has it there has been a brawl on the set of #Masterminds. More information to  
>come as we work to confirm details...<p>

***ShepFlight1:** On my way to the hospital. We're fine. Dave is fine. #Masterminds will resume production  
>before you know it!<p>

***AcieMoe:** My shoulder hurts :(

***ShepFlight1:** *AcieMoe stop hugging book closets as a hobby #weirdo

***AcieMoe:** *ShepFlight1 All I will say is my set is bigger...

***meekobb:** *ShepFlight1 What happened? #worried

***kytivafan:** *ShepFlight1 *AcieMoe feel better soon!

***gossipqueencom:** *ShepFlight1 *AcieMoe you two were together? Again? #lovebirds

***AcieMoe:** *gossipqueencom Get your facts straight before you spread lies #nothappy

After they arrived at the hospital, Teyla waited for them on the hallway while John and Ace were in separate treatment rooms. He had started to feel his face now, and it hurt like hell. Unlike a normal bruise, half of his face hurt, and his eye was throbbing. It didn't feel _too good_.

Aracely was relieved that she was finished rather quickly despite the painful holds she had to go through as the staff took X-rays of her shoulder and arm. After they set her in a new sling and gave her a prescription slip for pain medication, she made her way over to John's bed. Pulling back the curtain, she couldn't hold back the wince at the sight. "Make up next week is going to hate you," she tried to laugh. "You think you'll be able to perform? It's not too late to back out. I think this is more than enough to get out of the contract if you want."

"What? And let you miss the opportunity to win another trophy?" John shook his head slowly. "We can dress up as Quasimodo and Esmeralda, they won't know a thing," he joked.

"What about the Phantom of the Opera?" she smiled. "At least he had a mask. My god..."

The doctor came back in and looked serious. "You definitely have a fracture along the left cheek bone Mr. Sheppard. The force behind the blow also did give you a slight concussion and I want to admit you in overnight for observation," he reported. "I'm happy to say that the fractured bone isn't disfigured and still attached to each other. It will heal up nicely."

"No, please, I need to fix the mess that's my show, I _need_ to go home." John argued. "I'll be good and work from the couch or bed, but please, I can't stay here."

"I really don't want you to go home unsupervised," Dr. Beckett said. "If you had someone home to make sure that you need help and keep an eye on you then I would consider it, but it's highly unrecommended."

"What if he stayed with me? I have plenty of room," Aracely asked, trying to save John from the hospital and lack of privacy there.

Beckett still appeared unsure. "I signed off on your chart Miss Morales. With the pain medication that you were given, if you do take it, you won't be much help to him. Especially so with that arm of yours now."

She looked over at John and frowned. "I don't know what else to do..."

"We could ask Teyla?"

"Oh...If she agrees, would you let him leave?" Aracely asked the doctor.

The man smiled and nodded. "Yes, if you two both promise to follow up with your private physicians about these injuries - and hold off on your practices. Yes, I have heard of you Miss Morales. Dancing through injuries...tsk tsk."

John chuckled and looked at her. "I'll make sure that Teyla will make sure she'll stay put."

She smiled weakly and shrugged. "Easier said than done. Let me go talk to her," she replied, patting him on his hand before disappearing around the curtain.

"Ah, Miss Morales," Teyla smiled politely. "How are you doing? Are you released? What about John?" She asked worried. "Would I need to stop by his house and get him an overnight bag? Or does he have to stay longer? I've already called my husband that I probably won't be home tonight because of the incident and he understood, but is he alright?" She normally didn't ramble on like this, she was still shaken from Dave's behaviour and she was worried about John.

"Well - the doctor is willing to discharge him on one condition. That someone stays with him overnight. Personally, I would feel more safe for him if he were to stay at my house with all this - I have three extra bedrooms - but the doctor said that I can't take the responsibility with the pain killers that I know I will need in order to get any rest. If you want to come back, talk to him?"

"I appreciate your - concern - for John, but I do not think it's a good idea for him to stay at your place, not after this morning," Teyla said uncomfortably.

"I don't give a crap about what people think. It's not the first time that there's been rumors that I've been involved with a dancing partner. It's just bigger now because its national television and a Sheppard. I'm not going to let people dictate who and how I should be friends with someone," Aracely complained with growing impatience.

"_You_ are used to this, yes. John's been trying to stay out of the media, and I admit, it's partly due to myself that he's on your show, so I am to blame, but considering that, and his divorce that's spiralling out of control, do you want...-"

"God the man needs to develop his own set of balls," she rolled her eyes. "People will always talk. It's not like he's going to be alone with me. You'll be there."

"John's pretty much a pacifist," Teyla sighed. "If you haven't noticed, he always wants to please other people rather than to please himself, and avoid confrontation... I have a spare bedroom in my house as well. How about you two stay at my place? Kanaan and I will sleep on the floor in the living room."

"I like my bed," she frowned. "And I have a studio in my basement so that I can start working again to keep stiffness from setting in."

"Should you even be dancing with your hurt shoulder?"

Aracely made a face. "I don't need a mother!"

Sighing, Teyla nodded. "Very well then, I shall inform the doctor that you won't be alone tonight and will be taken care of." The first thing she saw when she slipped through the curtain was John's face. "Oh John, it looks even worse now!"

"Will you get me out of here? Please?"

Teyla turned to the doctor. "My name is Teyla Emmagan, I am John's assistant. I shall be taking care of him and Miss Morales tonight."

Dr. Beckett looked up from adding notes to John's chart and frowned. Sighing he nodded. "Very well. I'll get the paperwork started," he said as he returned to the nurses' station.

"Could we swing by my place before we go to her house to grab some things? We should probably drop by your house too huh?" John asked Teyla who just looked at him with a lot of worry in her face. "What?"

"I don't know... if I hadn't been positive towards you doing _Toe the line_, this probably shouldn't have happened, you would have been able to keep Dave working long enough until we would have shot the last script of the season."

"Don't go there, this is not your fault."

Aracely didn't say anything and only made a disgusted face at the mention of the man. She stepped out as she went to try to see if she could talk one of the nurses into giving her a jello cup while the two talked until they were ready to leave.

* * *

><p>They eventually arrived at Ace's house, after stopping by John's house and Teyla's house and Teyla immediately made herself comfortable around the house, at least with the kitchen and living room. An LAPD officer would drop by later, Teyla had told them, and John sighed. Right now, everything was a mess and he had to fix it.<p>

"Home," Aracely sighed as she shuffled around the main floor, happily kissing her potted plants. They had also stopped at a 24 hour pharmacy as both of their pain began to increase. She had taken one of hers and it had her become happy and lovey to everything around her, even as far as giving Teyla a hug and big kiss on the cheek.

Even though his head was hurting right now, he needed to start fixing at least one shooting script. He was grateful that this all happened on a Wednesday, even though they were halfway through a shoot, there was plenty of time to re-shoot things if needed. 'Mike' could easily not be in the office or interrogation room. "You need to rest, Ace," he said as he typed away.

"So do you John. You can deal with that later," Teyla said as she tried to make something for them to eat.

"No, things have to return back to normal as soon as possible." He answered. "What do you think? Have one of Jason's minions in the interrogation room with him or just alone with the guy?"

"John, I'm not going to answer that until you have had at least a good night's rest. You've been through a lot today." Teyla answered patiently. "I did call Hammond, and he doesn't mind seeing a new or adjusted script somewhere next week, he wants you to heal up. Start tomorrow, take your pain killer."

***ShepFlight1:** Ouchie.

***AcieMoe:** I luv mi flwers!*!

***ShepFlight1:** *AcieMoe Get off twitter you klutz.

"Give me your phone," John held his hand out for her phone. "I'll have Teyla call your producers."

Aracely pouted as she hugged it closer to her. "No! I love my phone!" she refused.

"I'm sure you do, but you might end up tweeting things that other people shouldn't know about," John told her, not getting up. "Hand it over."

"Oooh! Like your secret like of the Backstreet Boys?" she grinned and started typing on the device.

Sighing, John placed his laptop on the table and got up to pry the phone out of Aracely's hands. "How about we watch some dance movie or something?" He put his hands on hers and tugged on the phone. "Hand it over."

She glared at him and pulled it back, "No. You watch a movie. Maybe you can learn something to impress me in practice..."

"I doubt it," he chuckled. "Hand it over." When she wasn't budging, he put his arms around her and carried her to the couch. "Alright, at least let me proof read your tweets then," he said as he put her down.

Aracely squeeled as he lifted her. "Fine! Fine!" she laughed.

***Betterthanthecar:** *ShepFlight1 is *AcieMoe okay?

***ShepFlight1:** *Betterthanthecar yep. She's a light weight.

***BetterThanTheCar:** *ShepFlight1 I'll DM my digits to chat. Hope everything is ok.

Teyla was standing in front of him with a pill in one hand and a glass of water in the other. "Take it."

Sighing, John took the pill and swallowed it whole with the water. "Happy?"

"You'll feel much better soon," Teyla smiled sweetly.

John received Aiden Ford's phone number. He was a professional dancer on _Toe the line_, he didn't know him that well but John knew that he had to talk to at least one of them. "Want to talk to Aiden, Ace?"

"Ooh, sure!" she grinned. "He's cool beans!"

He dialled the number and put his phone on speaker phone as he sunk down on the couch to rest his head on the back of it.

"Hey! What's happening Dude?" Aiden's voice came across the speaker. "Heard you guys took a trip to the hospital. Break each other in practice?"

"No, if only," John chuckled. "Ah, Ace got caught up in a situation at my day job."

"That brawl that the gossip queen chic has been going on about?" he asked, concerned. "She's saying that your bro got dragged off by the PoPo. You two okay?"

"Yeah, he pushed her against a book case. Ah, something with her shoulder." John replied and closed his eyes. "She's high on her pain meds."

Aiden laughed. "They must have given her the good stuff. I competed with her a couple years ago when she sprained her ankle. I know even then she didn't want the pain meds so for her to take it, she must have been hurting."

"She's one fierce creature."

"I'm feeling gooooood!" Aracely tried to sing the song that they were supposed to dance to as she curled up on the sofa next to John. "Feeeeeeeling goooood!"

"Yeah - I don't wish to be you right now," Ford joked. "Seriously man, take it easy. I'm sure she'll be working you hard over the weekend when she starts to feel better."

"Probably," John replied. "Depending on whether or not I feel better too, we'll see." John looked at Aracely and sighed. "I hope she falls asleep soon."

"Hint, get her a benedryl," Aiden recommended. "See you Monday. Feel better man."

"Wait, what's Monday?" John asked confused and looked at Teyla. "What's Monday?"

"The first night of the show live. Your performance," she said as she came in with two bowls of soup. "If I'm going to be watching over the two of you this week to make sure you don't overdo yourselves, I'm going to have to do some grocery shopping for her. She only has things for salads in the kitchen but managed to find a few other things for something warm - not that it matters for her now," she smiled at the woman who finally started to nod off against John's shoulder.

"Oh, of course, I should have known..." John groaned and put his phone down next to him. "I'm sure I can make sure we won't do anything stupid for an hour..." he grabbed his wallet and tossed it to her. "Knock yourself out."

"I should be back before someone from the police department comes but in case they do, I will leave the door unlocked," Teyla replied. "Just relax and don't go near - you know what. I will take your computer _with_ me."

"Sure, sure..." John sighed and started to fidget with his phone. "You think I should press charges against Dave? I don't know what Ace will do - she probably will just to bust his balls - but what do you think?"

"John, that's of later concern." Teyla hugged the laptop. "Be good. I'll be back soon."

***ShepFlight1:** *Teyla_Emmagan just took my laptop away from me #sucks  
><strong>*ShepFlight1:<strong> Right, pain meds not kicking in yet. Entertain me!

***meekobb:** *ShepFlight1 Why did the chicken cross the road?

***ShepFlight1:** *meekobb Did that get covered in "My bug is an alien"?

***meekobb:** *ShepFlight1 Nope :)

***ShepFlight1:** *meekobb Oh good, I haven't read it yet. Didn't even get the books out today. Uhm... to cross the road?

***meekobb:** *ShepFlight1 O.o no... Actually I shouldn't answer, it's not very clean...

***ShepFlight1:** *meekobb Yeah, don't make me laugh too loud, it hurts.

***meekobb:** *ShepFlight1 If you have an address I can send to, we'd be happy here to mail our most  
>recent collection that hasn't it the shelves yet to donate.<p>

***ShepFlight1:** *meekobb How kind of you! I'll have to get back to you on that, but I'm sure that it's safe  
>to send it to the studio lot. #generous #kindness<br>***ShepFlight1:** *meekobb Sorry, not thinking clearly. Uh... *Teyla_Emmagan will answer that.

***Teyla_Emmagan:** *ShepFlight1 *meekobb Send to the Hammond Network studios in care of my name  
>and I'll take care of it. #FoodShoppingForRabbits<p>

***ShepFlight1:** *Teyla_Emmagan NOT A RABBIT.

***Teyla_Emmagan:** *ShepFlight1 Not you, your dance partner. I think I saw alfalfa in her cubbard...

***ShepFlight1:** *Teyla_Emmagan I'm officially scared now  
><strong>*ShepFlight1:<strong> Three little duckies jumping on the bed... #shouldbeofftwitter #bored  
>#someonetookmywork<p>

***gossipqueencom:** Have *ShepFlight1 and *AcieMoe moved in together? What about his ex-wife?  
><strong>*ShepFlight1:<strong> *gossipqueencom Get a life #notinthemood  
><strong>*ShepFlight1:<strong> One fell off and bumped his head...

John tossed his phone on the couch. Closing his eyes again, it didn't take him long to doze off.


	6. Chapter 6

**Authors Note:** We wish to thank those following this story as we did see the story alert emails. We hope that you enjoy the story as much as we had fun writing. There are a total of 22 complete chapters as of this point (4/1/12) and we will post them over time. Though, just like every other writer, we do like reviews and comments. They are very encouraging and we do deeply appreciate each and every one we get.

* * *

><p>He had reluctantly pressed charges against Dave when the LAPD officer, Marty Deeks, arrived. Since Ace was more coherent when Deeks was at her house, she did too. John felt sorry for Dave, and felt as if he was betraying him in some way. But John also knew that he had gone too far, and he knew that if his parents were still alive, they wouldn't have let Dave get away with this.<p>

Maybe now, Dave could get the help he needed.

On Thursday, John could barely talk and reluctantly took his pain medication while Ace seemed to be doing better, or maybe that was just her forcing herself to be doing better. At least she wasn't trying to dance with her flowers anymore. John's phone had been ringing constantly and he decided to turn it off. He had received an angry email from his divorce lawyer and let Teyla handle it.

Teyla was doing some damage control over the phone while he sat at the kitchen counter with his laptop, adjusting the script of the episode they had been shooting that week. It didn't take much, but he needed to get creative in finding a reason for Dave's character not to be there. If he could come up with some elaborate plot, he could still have him killed off in the season finale, he just didn't want to take the easy way out.

Aracely spent most of her time in those two days after the pain killers and the detective's questions down in her studio. She wasn't thrilled about having to go to the station to formally sign the paperwork and hated that she was doing that to her friend's brother but if no one would stand up to the man, she would. She also couldn't be more proud when John finally decided to go forward on his own. Her shoulder hurt still, but she didn't want to drop out of the show her first year despite the assurances of the producers that it wouldn't affect her contract. Her stomach growled for food but she couldn't eat. Not really. There wasn't much time left for all the work they needed to do and it wasn't just her and John. He had to rush to fix story lines to account for the missing character. She had the performance with the other professionals that she needed to do before Monday. At least for her, it was easier to learn and be somewhat familiar with a full routine in two days than it would for someone else. It was a dancer's life after all.

John spent most of his Saturday at work, dealing with the looks people were giving him, looks of pity and worry. Hammond had been there too and surprisingly brought someone with him who he thought would be an excellent show runner for Masterminds; John's best friend Rodney McKay. "Yeah, okay, I can work with that..."

"I'm not stealing your show."

"I'm not letting you."

"Good," Rodney nodded. "Now show me what you did to the scripts and hide 'Mike' until your big season finale Quasimodo."

John smacked Rodney on the head with the script. "This is the re-write of the episode we were shooting, and this one is the one for next week. Still working on the others."

"So the rest that Hammond had allowed you to take... you didn't take it?" Rodney sighed. "Typical you, isn't it?"

"Didn't want the cast and crew to be out of a job too long, now read, and I'll check the set for booby traps or something."

"Don't get blown up," His friend said while he sat down on the couch and started to read the script.

John shook his head grinning. "Don't plan to," he said as sat down behind his desk to start going through his personal email. He sighed when there were some nasty emails in his inbox and deleted them. People needed to get a life.

Finishing rehearsal early, Aracely was relieved as she made her way over to the Hammond studio to see about a quick practice with John. She carried a tray of coffee for herself and him as her phone beeped with a new message. Opening the email she narrowed her eyes as she hit delete. "Weird," she muttered as she knocked on the office door.

"Go away," Rodney called out. "We're busy!"

Aracely made a face at the new voice. "John?" she called out.

"Yeah, come in Ace," John replied and shot a look at Rodney. "Open door policy."

"We're busy!"

"Rodney!" He smiled at Ace when she walked in. "Hey!"

She grinned at him as she made her way across the room to hand him the coffee she brought. "Figured you might be needing this. Just how _busy_are you? Can you spare some time for me?"

"He's not busy, I _am_," Rodney replied and got up, extending his hand. "Hi, I'm Rodney McKay, this loser's best friend and semi-boss," he said jokingly.

She frowned at the man, looking at the offered hand and back up. "You're who's best friend?" she asked, clearly not pleased at the insult, no matter how innocent it was meant to be.

"Well... his..." Rodney pointed at John. "I've been there whenever he made a mistake, for years." He nodded.

"I take it you wanted to practise?" John said, getting up from his desk and taking his coffee. "Let's leave grumpy Rodney alone, shall we? Roach dumped him."

"We didn't even start dating yet!" He spluttered.

"Read. We'll be... somewhere."

"Keep your hands above the covers."

"Yes, _mom_."

Aracely laughed as she looked at Rodney. "And you keep yours out of your pants," she smirked and headed out.

"It's a real treat that Hammond chose Rodney to help out..." He shrugged. "Anyway, how was your day so far?"

"Okay I guess. The opening performance isn't very intricate...or at least they cut back my part do to this past week," she sighed and looked around. "I guess here is as good as any. I just really want to get your hold straight. You know the steps already."

"How's your shoulder?" They were in the bullpen, and the desks were put to the side already because of something John couldn't quite remember.

"Tylenol on board," she said, stretching it out. "You taking the job here?"

He shrugged and took a sip of his coffee. "_They_really want me to, but I've managed to find a way to adjust the upcoming scripts so that I don't have to... yet. Hammond owns my ass, so yeah, eventually I'll have to I suppose."

"Maybe he's just a fan of yours and doesn't want to quite make it obvious," she smiled as she held her arms up, waiting for him.

After putting his coffee down on one of the desks, he walked towards her. "What would you do if I told you I forgot all the steps?" He asked, grinning.

"I'd be working your ass through the night until you remembered them," Aracely replied, turning her head for their opening hold.

"Ah, good thing I remember then." They danced for a while, and he was surprised that he did remember the steps and not screw up the timing either. Maybe he held her a bit sloppily, but that was just so he wouldn't hurt her.

She slapped him on his shoulder every time she could feel him lose his hold on her. "I'm not going to break. Do it right because Monday night we won't get a second chance to do it," she reminded him.

"Yeah well, you might break now and then Monday won't happen," he said stubbornly. "You should give your shoulder some rest."

"I've been through worse. Just do it right."

"Alright, fine." John sighed and strengthened his hold on her. "How's that?"

Aracely released a breath she'd been holding and nodded. "Much better," she let out with only a slight hint of strain. She clicked the play button on the remote for the CD player she had set up. As the music played, they moved fairly smoothly, though it was clear that they were both hurting however it was much better than either could truly hope in their conditions.

Teyla had wandered in and grinned as she got to see them. As the number finished, she clapped happily. "That was simply beautiful!"

"Teyla, it's Saturday, shouldn't you be with your family?" John quickly walked over to his coffee that was starting to get cold and took a sip of it.

"You're welcome, John," Teyla chuckled. John was never good with compliments, and she hadn't actually thought he would be good at dancing, but he was great, for someone who had never danced in his entire life before. "I came here because I knew you'd be here, dealing with Hammond and the new boss, who is he?"

"He's not the new boss... well he is, maybe," John shrugged. "I'm glad Hammond asked Rodney, and unfortunately, he said yes."

"Ah, he's already been making fun of you huh?" Teyla laughed. "I'm glad it is Rodney and not a random stranger."

"That man needs to watch his mouth around me if he doesn't want to get popped," Aracely commented. "He may be your friend but after this week, I'm in no mood for _jokes_like that."

"Ace, trust me, Rodney is a good guy and we've been friends since... well a very long time," he smiled at her. "You won't have to protect me from him, Miss Tyson."

"Well please continue and do not mind me. I'm just sorting through some fan mail that the network received this week. I'm going need you for some autographs later to mail back," Teyla smiled as she went to sit at one of the staff tables just off the filming set.

"So, are you satisfied with my posture now?" John asked Aracely and finished drinking his coffee.

"Much more than yesterday, and definitely more than last week," she replied. "Still need some polishing things up. I was thinking of tweaking the ending though."

"In to something more simple?" John asked hopeful. "Please?"

She made a face of uncertainty. "Yes and no. I was thinking of something a little more dramatic."

John groaned. "There's already been too much drama this week."

"Not that kind of drama. I was thinking a softer, more romantic ending would help the performance. I just been feeling like the routine is missing something, I don't know," she sighed as she walked away for a moment, pacing as she tried stretching her shoulder out some more.

"You're just saying that because you haven't been able to get rid of your energy," John pointed out.

"No," Aracely replied. "The medication has been helping with that. I just want to try to get a foundation that could make the judges want to see what else we can bring to the floor for the higher scores that could bring us back the following week."

"Alright, what did you have in mind?" He dumped his empty cup in one of the bins and decided to humor her. He wasn't entirely sure if he would be able to do it, but he'd see. Maybe today hadn't been such a good day not to take any pain killers as it felt as if his head was swimming.

"Well lifts are definitely out. Not only are they illegal in this dance, but the judges don't want them except in certain Latin ones..." she tried to explain trailing off as she thought about it.

"During the last line of lyrics, try pulling me into a tight hold, a hug as if you need me as close to you as possible," she said as she hit play to start from the beginning.

He lost his footing on their first try and they tumbled on the floor. "Oh, I'm so sorry," he chuckled and looked at her, she was laying on top of him and the look on her face was just hilarious. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. It's okay. I probably should have told you that I was going to wrap my leg around you," she laughed as she pushed herself up. "Again and when I do that, drag us back in a straight line then lower your face to my shoulder."

He still messed up, and it took him a few tries to get it right. At least he didn't make them hit the deck again. He was wondering when Teyla was going to get him to sign stuff, he could use a break. "Can we please stop for today?"

"Yeah sure. Much better. What do you think?" she asked as she rubbed her shoulder absently.

"I think that you should go home and rest," he said as he sat down on one of the desks. "Take a hot bath, get yourself a massage or something."

"Uhhh that sounds like a plan," she sighed. "After some emails I got today, I could use a glass of wine and a hot bubble bath."

"What kind of emails?"

Aracely shrugged her good shoulder as she finished off her water quickly. "Some nutjob got ahold of my private email is all. Just - some disturbing comments made but nothing major. Enough to get under my skin for a while."

"Yeah I had some weird emails too, but the thing is, when I don't know someone's email address, I immediately delete it and not read it."

"John!" Teyla screamed out from where she was dealing with mail. "John!"

John hopped off the table and ran towards his friend, who was visibly upset. "What's wrong?" He got her up from her chair and put his arms around the trembling woman. "Hey, Teyla?"

"We need to call the police I think..." she said nervously as she pointed to one letter that was laid out where it fell from her hands. It was in the cliched newspaper clippings at the top with John's name and Aracely's, but the rest was typewritten and photos of the two taken from a distance coming and going from the practice studio and her home, and leaving the hospital after the incident with David.

Getting ridiculous emails was one thing, but this, with pictures of Aracely's home, made him worried. "Uhm... Ace? Could you get over here for a second?"

She tossed her empty bottle into the trash as she made her way over to the two. "What's wrong?" she asked as she got closer. Noticing the mess on the table, she looked over curiously before the color drained from her face. "Ohh crap..."

"You're not going home tonight," John said and grabbed his phone. "I'm calling the police."

"Well where the hell am I going to go?" she asked as she reached forward to pull one of the pictures closer to look better when he smacked her hand away.

"There could be finger prints on there, don't touch." He said as he waited for them to pick up. "And you can stay at my place."

"If whoever this freak is was watching us at my house, what makes you think they won't find us at yours?"

"I'm going to call Mr. Hammond. He needs to be aware of this," Teyla spoke up shaking her hands nervously as she turned to her working mindset where she was most comfortable. "I'm sorry. I've never dealt with anything like this before."

"I think it's one big joke, but better be safe than sorry," John said and then spoke to the police officer on the phone. They were going to send someone over right away. He was wondering why Rodney hadn't bothered peeking out of the office, he either fell asleep or he really hadn't heard Teyla's scream. "Let's send Rodney out for something to drink while we wait for the police to arrive."

She nodded as she had been put on hold by their boss. "I'll go deal with him now," Teyla replied eager for the quick escape with her phone plastered to her ear. "Yes sir, I'm still here..." she was saying as she walked away.

"This is nuts," Aracely said, interlacing her fingers through her hair, messing it as she stared at pictures of herself with John or alone. One was as recent as that morning when she was practicing with Aiden. "What are we going to do?"

"Nothing, we're going to let the police handle this," John replied. "There's nothing we can do."

"Have you ever had a stalker before? Threats like this?" she asked quietly.

"Nope," He pulled her into a hug and chuckled. "And until the LAPD says otherwise, this is just a joke, someone's pulling a very sick prank. But still, I don't want you to go home tonight."

She nodded and said nothing more but accepted his hug and clung to him. It didn't take long for LAPD to arrive, only for it to be the same Detective Deeks from a few days before. "You two seem to be a popular duo for the department this week," he smiled as he made his way over. "What did you get?"

"Pictures with a letter, text glued onto it. The only person touching it all has been my assistant Teyla." John replied. "I wouldn't have called if I was sure that it was a joke." Sometimes it helped to have a police consultant on the show that taught him things; a person he could turn to if he didn't know the correct procedure for a script or something like that. That had been the first thing Tim McGee had told him; don't touch the it if you're not sure what it is. "Will you help?"

"Um, I touched the corner of one photo," Aracely said quietly, looking up as she continued to hold onto John for support. "They are of us around, at the studio, my house..."

Deeks looked at the set up after slipping on a pair of gloves. "Yeah. This is a freak job alright," he murmured. "Do you two have someplace safe to stay? I'm sure I can make arrangements for a safe house if you want."

"I told her she could stay at my place." John answered. "Considering there aren't any pictures of that in there."

"Yet. Just be careful. I'll give you two my cell phone number that you can get me directly. My cap is having me handle you two personally."

He nodded. "Thanks."

"Do you have any idea who would want to hurt you in any way?" Deeks looked at the both of them. "In all honesty, it's a bit strange for this to happen even before the start of your dancing show."

"I don't have any enemies that I know of. I know I tend to piss people off, but some just can't handle the truth," Ace said.

"I doubt Nancy would pull something like this," John said. "She may be a bitch, but she wouldn't do something like this. And the only person I can think of at this moment is the same person you have in custody right now, so he didn't do this either."

"Yeah, life sucks man," Deeks nodded as he carefully put the paper and pictures into an evidence bag. "I'll send this off to the lab to check for fingerprints."

Teyla came back in looking a bit more relieved. "Oh Detective Deeks. I wish I could say its a pleasure to see you again, but it's not in this situation," she smiled weakly.

Deeks nodded a greeting. "At least nobody got hurt this time... well... let's hope nobody gets hurt this time."

Ace grumbled something incoherently at his comment causing John to rub his hand over her back to settle her down. "What did Hammond have to say Teyla?" he asked.

"He asked that you not leave before someone comes for you. He's making arrangements for body guards for the both of you," she said. "He said that he'll have someone here within an hour."

"Hammond must be sick and tired of me by now," John sighed.

Teyla shook her head. "No, he just makes sure that his people are taken care of. Not many people can have a boss that looks out for his people like that," she said. "Do you wish for something to eat? I can order something to be delivered?"

"I suggest you stick to self made food and not let anything be delivered to you," Deeks said. "Just to be sure."

"Salad it is," Aracely grinned.

"I'm not hungry," John replied. "But thanks anyway Teyla. Did you kick Rodney out?"

"Yes John. I sent him home to deal with the scripts. No reason for him to work on them here if there is no filming going on. I need something to eat myself. I think there are donuts in your office," she said.

"I have a stash of twinkies," He nodded and grinned at Ace who was pulling a face. "And hey, having Hammond send over someone to watch over you means you can go home if you want to... you can eat all the salad that's in your fridge."

"John, this is serious business," Teyla glared at him. "I know your coping mechanism is trying to crack jokes, but now is not the time and you should stop it right now."

He shrugged and looked at Deeks. "Will you call me the moment you know more?"

"Of course," he nodded as he waved the bag. "Get some rest. It won't do either of you any good to just stop doing what you do. Just stay alert. Laters."

"I think I still may take you up on your offer if you don't mind," Aracely said after Deeks left and the three went to the office to sit and wait as she played with the label of a fresh bottle of water nervously.

"Yeah sure," John nodded and opened the bottom drawer of his desk to hand Teyla a couple of twinkies. "I'll just have to clean my bed so you can sleep on it tonight." He saw the look on Teyla's face and shook his head. "Don't worry, I'll stay on the couch," he said to both women. "And we'd have to get some groceries."

"Let us be the judge of that," A strange voice sounded and John looked up to see two big and muscled men standing at the door. "I'm Ronon, this is Murray, we were sent here by George Hammond to make sure you both stay safe."

"Indeed," the other guy said. "We have been filled in about your situation on our way here."

"No offense gentlemen," Teyla said cautiously. "How do I know that you're telling the truth?" Ronon handed her his mobile phone and John could see a thin smile appear on her lips before she hung up. "Clever to have Mr. Hammond waiting for that question."

"We're the best. What's the plan?"

"She's staying at my house tonight, so we'd have to swing by her place to get some stuff, go to the supermarket and head to my place." John answered.

"Good, at least we'll have the two of you in one place. One of us inside and the other doing rounds."

"Joy," Aracely smirked as she eyed them. "Babysitters."

"You'll be fine," Teyla smiled bravely. "Now go so I can lock this place up."

Ace groaned as she pushed herself off the couch. "Definitely need to stop at my place first. I left my pain killers there," she frowned.

"Yes ma'am." Ronon said and waited for her to make a move.

John hugged Teyla. "Go home. If there's anything wrong, call me and take some rest, okay?"

"Of course. You do the same," she replied as she nudged him towards the door. "Be careful."


	7. Chapter 7

The first thing he did after them getting home with their 'babysitters', was go upstairs and quickly clean his bedroom, and change the bedding. He didn't care much for the half empty boxes downstairs, but if Ace was to sleep in his bed, it'd better be clean. John doubted that she'd like to smell of him when she'd wake up.

She had already tried to unnerve Ronon, but he wouldn't have any of it. John had to chuckle, because he actually thought it was_cute_, the way she tried to find things out about a person. She had her own little way and he liked it. He didn't mind being around her at all, maybe at the beginning, but not now.

On the other hand, he would have _liked_ it if he could have spent the entire night locked up in his bathroom jerking himself off, because the addition she had made to the routine was actually kinda hot. And it was _wrong_ to think that it was hot. But he was still a guy, and a guy with _needs_. John just didn't want to give his ex-wife's lawyer more ammo to use.

Thinking of the proceedings, things were going slow. Peter had thrown a fit when the beach photo's got published and he couldn't make Nancy and her lawyer see that it were harmless pictures. And of course, with him getting hit by his brother, she had more fodder to throw at him.

Sighing, John brought his dirty clothes and the dirty sheets to the bathroom and put them in the basket before starting to dig in one of his boxes marked 'bed' for clean ones. He wondered why this box was marked and the others weren't, but frankly, he didn't care.

Once he had re-dressed his bed, he opened the window to let some fresh air in and moved all of the remaining boxes to the spare room so they wouldn't get in Ace's way. John then made his way downstairs and frowned when the back door was closed. "Why's that door closed?"

"I don't know," Aracely replied as she was digging through her bag in the living room to pull out her toiletries and pajamas. "I didn't notice."

Shrugging, John opened the door again, and stumbled back when Murray stepped out from behind the wall. "This door is to remain closed for your own protection."

"You're standing right next to it."

He did not respond and just stared down at him stoically.

John grumbled and started to move some of the boxes towards the walls so that his living room appeared to be a normal one. "There are towels in the bathroom and you might like the bath tub," he told Aracely as he finished with the last box. "I'll cook us some dinner."

"Sounds great. Just - do you have anything other than steaks? That's too heavy after today."

"We just went shopping, remember? I'll make us a light pasta with salmon."

"I also know you. You prefer steaks no matter," she smiled. "But that sounds great too. I'll be back down shortly." She winked before heading up the stairs and looked around trying to find the bedroom she would be using before finally opening the door at the end. It was a typical beach house bedroom but it felt warm and inviting despite the still unpacked things around. Dropping her bag at the foot of the bed, she went into the master bath and nearly dropped her things. "Oh my GOD!" she cried out at the large jetted soaking bathtub. A woman's dream come true.

***ShepFlight1:** Having a guest over tonight. Told guest that she'd love the bath tub. Heard her screaming  
>#toldyaso<p>

***kytivafan:** *ShepFlight1 Sounds dirty ;-)

***ShepFlight1:** *kytivafan Does a jetted bathtub sound dirty? Go clean yourself up haha

***AcieMoe:** Just need a glass of red wine and I'm in for the night. #sigh

***ShepFlight1:** *AcieMoe yes, great combination with ouwie meds. #sleeptight

She wasn't done with her bath when he had finished cooking. Not that he expected her to because of the bath. He poured two glasses of wine and set them on the cooking island and dragged his bar stools out of what was supposed to be his home office. John then waited for her to come back downstairs for a meal.

Aracely made her way downstairs after she reluctantly dragged herself out of the tub. Pulling her wet hair back, she shuffled her bare feet into the kitchen and sighed. "Can I like move in permanently or take your tub home with me?"

He had almost not thought of her the entire time she was splashing about in his bath and now she was in pyjamas, they were ordinary pyjamas but she made them look _good_. "Uhh... you're more than welcome to use the tub whenever you want?" He said impish and started to scoop the food onto plates.

"Thanks," she replied as she made herself comfortable in the stool, eagerly going for the wine glass. "How long do you think we'll have the muscle brothers on us?"

"Well, probably until the LAPD finds the person who's behind those pictures," John replied and put a plate down in front of her. "Or until they think that that person is no longer a threat and unlike on TV, that could take a while..."

She was quiet as she poked the salmon with her fork for a bit. "Are you scared?" she asked softly.

"Yep," he sighed. "Maybe by pretending nothing is wrong and this is all a big joke it'll go away," he took a sip of his wine and then a bite from his pasta. "You know, even the thing with Dave... he's always been an asshole, but I never thought he'd go this far. He has always beaten me up but mostly relatively normal punches and awful words. I have always known he was a jerk and Rodney even thinks that he made sure that the actor that was cast as Mike before Dave got into such a big accident that up until this day he's still not able to work so that Dave would get the role instead." John sighed again. "I don't believe that, but I'm torn. Yes, I want to see Dave being brought to justice, especially after all the shit he pulled and after hurting you. But he's also my brother and I just want him to get help and get better. And now there's this..."

"It is more difficult when it is blood, but we need to remember that without the proper punishment, he will continue on, believing that it would be alright to beat on anyone he wishes. You said your parents let him? That is something terrible. If we lived anywhere near each other as children or were friends, if I knew, my parents would have come to take you in. No way should a child have to live through that kind of terror."

John shrugged. "It's okay I suppose. I was the unwanted child and I survived. I'm more worried about you than myself at this point."

"And I worry for _you_," she replied before trying to eat at least some before calling it a night. "Seriously John. You need to start thinking about yourself a little more, and less of everyone else."

"I might have no other choice soon, if Hammond wants Rodney to take over _my_ show," he muttered as he downed his glass of wine and continued to eat his pasta. It didn't taste good, at all, but he needed to eat.

"Is it such a bad thing to have your friend there? You trust him, don't you? Truthfully, if you did take the role full time, I can say that I would certainly make it my objective to watch regularly," Aracely winked.

"I'm usually the 'act when wants to' guy. It's kinda weird to turn it around into 'act when has to and likes it' guy," he snorted and decided to throw his food away. "Is it just me or did that food taste horrible?"

She nodded with a wince. "I'm so sorry, I didn't want to say anything. I think the sauce might have gone bad..."

"Yeah, I probably over cooked it," he sighed. "I'm sorry, you want something else to eat? I can make you a sandwich?"

"Nah, it's alright. I should get to sleep. You too...last full day before the show goes on," she smiled as she finished her wine and set the glass in the sink. "You need to get your rest too."

"I will, I'm just going to check my email and then I'll crash on the couch," he promised as he took the first pain med of the day. His head had given him grief earlier, but he had forgotten about it when the stress set in. He knew he was going to regret it if he wasn't going to give himself some relief.

She scraped off her plate into the trash and made a face. "I think I'm going to avoid my email for a bit. Not interested in seeing if this wacko tried sending more messages. I'm going to head upstairs. Thank you - for everything," Ace smiled as she stopped in front of him.

"Hey, you let me stay at your house this week, I'm only returning the favor," he smiled. "Good night Ace."

She reached up and hugged him before leaving, "Goodnight John."

He watched her go up the stairs and sighed. No way was he going to be able to sleep tonight, not with the baby sitters around, although they did their best to stay out of their way. John sat down behind his laptop and answered some emails, one was a demanding one from his lawyer, the other one was from Rodney, congratulating him on a successful re-write and that they'd start shooting the next Monday - Rodney was never one to waste time and there was another one from Roach, sending him a little script for her web-series she wanted him to check out; which he did while drinking another glass of wine and laughed hilariously.

***ShepFlight1:** *BugSpray Thanks for making my night! #approved

On Sunday Ace wanted to practise some more so he cleared his living room and after practise they went for a refreshing swim in the ocean, being watched by their baby sitters from the beach.

Aracely's demeanor had clearly shifted with the events. While she still had a lot of her usual energy to burn, she applied that to harder rehearsals and pushing herself when she went running. Other than that, she was almost listless as she waded in the water or just floated around where she could, staring out into the open sea.

"Talk to me, Ace." John said as he watched her in the water. "You're not a floater."

She shrugged. "I don't know. I never had to deal with anything like this so it's hard to comprehend," she said softly.

"Neither have I, but I don't think that you should worry so much, the LAPD is on it."

"Yeah," she sighed. "It just hard to understand. Why _us_?"

"Well, I hope it's either random or some obsessed fan... I don't want to think of the other options." John was floating on his stomach and looked at her.

"This can't be easy for you. I heard you on the phone this morning with your lawyer," she frowned as she dipped back down into the water until it was at her neck. "People still think that we are hooking up, right?"

"I suppose it's a 'thing'? They want the couples on the show hook up with each other?" John shrugged. "Anyway, Nancy's the least of my problems."

"How's that?"

"She broke my heart but didn't try to kill me nor is she behind the emails and yesterday's package. At this point, I don't care if she wants more money. Thank God I have my lawyer though, he's one of the toughest around."

Aracely nodded. "One day at a time," she said. "But I stand by what I said last night. If you take the job, I'll totally be there to cheer you on."

He rolled over so he was floating on his back and sighed. "I dunno, for some reason I feel like I won't have any control over it anymore, not that Rodney wouldn't clue me in or ask for my help, but it's just weird. I shouldn't even have been 'Nick' if it wasn't for the actor being in an accident the day of shooting." He shrugged. "I like doing what I do; write, being my own boss, controlling things, doing things the way I want to and even help out friends. There's barely enough hours in a day as it is."

"Well, wouldn't your contract be changed if you signed on full time? Can't you have it added in that you have to have equal say in the show and especially your character's direction? If Hammond really wants you, he'll give you what you want. You have the upper hand here."

"Yeah, I know. We'll see. Right now I'm just working on fixing the scripts so 'Mike' is still around just not in the picture so we can blow him up in the season finale. I know Hammond wants him out NOW, but I'm not willing to sacrifice the arc." He then smiled. "Tell me what we're doing tomorrow so I won't be surprised and awkward?"

She grinned as she made her way closer to him. "Well, we have to get up early for final fitting and dress rehearsal. You'll be on your own for awhile because I have to run off and change a couple times for the opening performance, then introductions. There'll be some live interviews with the co-host in what they call the fishbowl. You've seen the set."

"Not too bad then," John replied, and listened to what else she had to say and he liked it that for a while, he had made her think of something else than some freak taking pictures and sending upsetting stuff.

He had put his laptop in the kitchen on the table and while he worked on a script he watched her cook - garden salad with some homemade potato salad, but at least she didn't screw up like he had the previous night. Their baby sitters had a change of shift, there were two different muscled guys hanging around; Halling and Gibbs. Both men didn't have the body build as their co-workers, but Halling had his imposing height and Gibbs... well Gibbs was just scary. His eyes saw everything.

"Just have to let the potato salad chill for about an hour then we can eat," Aracely said as she settled into a chair across from John. "I made more than enough for the sharks outside too."

"There are no sharks in the water," John didn't look up from his screen. "I think."

"I meant our current babysitters," she smirked.

"Ah! I think they'll be thankful," John smiled and frowned at his words. "I suck, just now, I put two characters together in one room, two characters who don't particularly like each other but work well together and they're flirting."

"Sounds like something out of a fan-fiction story," she chuckled as she got up to round the table to look at what he wrote. "No love interest for the cop?"

"Well, the only real couple on the show is Jason and his wife..." he thought for a second. "Maybe I _should_ let these two hook up... we can always break them up later. Or maybe let them have a one night stand..." He was surprised on how close she was to him and he could almost feel her warmth radiate off of her. And she smelled like the ocean still, and for a moment it was the sexiest scent ever. "Uhm... maybe not..." John sighed and rubbed his face, avoiding the bruise. "I should call Rodney and ask him."

She pursed her lips as she eyed the document. "How about this. Don't think about the script," she said as she reached for the mouse he held. She maneuvered it to minimize the file he had open and started a blank one. "Write a story for yourself. Not a script, a story. Fan-fiction if you will. But just write from your heart and not think about everyone and everything else. See where that leads you for the next hour and then go back to the script."

"About what?"

"You want me to toss you ideas?" she asked as she went to the fridge to refill her glass of wine.

"It's your suggestion," John shrugged.

"Okay," she replied slowly as she thought about it. "Write something for me about Nick. Does _he_ have a love interest?" she grinned.

"He's such a two-dimensional character, I've never thought about that really."

Aracely rolled her eyes. "That's why you're just writing here for the hell of it. You're not writing this for the show. Flesh him out in something then I'll tell you what I want to do next."

_Nick Holland never had an easy life, his parents practically abandoned him when he was old enough to take care of himself and they didn't even care if he didn't go to school. He couldn't wait until he was old enough to leave the small town he was living in and see the rest of the world._

_By the time he was eighteen..._

John walked to the fridge and got himself a beer. He actually loved this little writing assignment. It felt good to give Nick a back story, but he knew that he could never use it on the show as it was a little _too_ awkward. He didn't care, he liked what he had written so far. Ace had put up some music and he actually didn't think it was disturbing him at all.

_Her name was Elsa and barely spoke any English. She was a tourist in Miami - his current home - and for the hell of it, Nick spent two days learning Spanish before approaching her in a bar. Sure, she made an easy mark, every tourist did, that was the entire reason he was in Miami during the summer, but something inside of him stopped him from using her. He had always been a fast learner, and even though his Spanish wasn't that brilliant, they managed to engage in a good conversation.

Elsa had the body of a dancer, her eyes were filled with fire and long, wavy brown hair that rested on her shoulders. For the first time in a long time, Nick was attracted to someone. She was smart - she was a medical student in Barcelona - and funny, and he was sure that her jokes were even funnier if he could fully understand them.

He couldn't help but take her to his hotel room after a night of clubbing. He couldn't help that he worshipped her that night, covering every inch of her body in kisses, finding all of her weak spots and making her come for a number of times that night. She came harder every time, screams of pleasure, her nails raking over his back. He made sure he got what he needed as well.

_

_He disappeared the next morning._

Aracely sat there and read the story after he was finished and passed it over to her reluctantly. Every time he tried to say something she only shushed him as she continued reading, her expression giving nothing away. When she was done, she looked up at him and raised an eyebrow. "Wow... That was... wow..."

"Yeah, it's okay I guess. If this was a real story, I probably would have fleshed it out a bit more."

"No, really, it's freaking great," she said as she opened up a popular fan-fiction archive. "I want you to create a pseudo account and upload it. You will be surprised at how many people will love you - anonymously - for this."

John started to laugh. "No way am I going to upload this."

"Fine, I will then," she grinned as she created a fake account with the username _repressedsoul_. She smacked him away when he reached for the computer and uploaded the story. "Now we just sit and wait. That was hot..." she grinned, her face flushed from her own turn ons.

"You obviously never had good sex if that turned you on," John pointed out and fetched himself another beer. "You should read the filth I wrote in College, it even made a nun embarrassed."

"You're right. My exes were all rusty tools," she sighed. "Now I need to take a trip to the bookstore for some trashy romance novels thank you very much."

"I have a dozen of children's books?" He offered grinning and pointed to the corner. "Once my face won't scare the kids, we really need to bring those to the schools."

"Of course," she said as she went to get their dinner out from the fridge and began to plate it. "But do you have a new vision for the Nick character now? Or at least inspiration to evolve him into a leading man?"

"Yes, thank you," he nodded. "However, it still hasn't solved the problem of the two cops who hate each other that are currently flirting with each other."

"Repressed sexual tension. You can still hate a person and get turned on by them physically. Either that, or you have something in your subconscious that is begging for attention."

_No shit,_ John thought. "Right, I'll go and fix that after dinner."

"You going out?" she asked as she passed over the utensils for him to set the table.

"Out? Why should I go out?" He asked confused. "I meant to fix the script."

She only raised an eyebrow suggestively. "So _that's_ what they call it now..."

"Maybe you should go out and buy yourself those novels," he countered as he took a swig of his bottle.

"You got any hot actor friends that are single?" she threw back with a grin. Of course it was all in jest as her own schedule was not conducive to a successful relationship but she loved joking around with John. At times, it felt as if they really understood each other.

"Rodney's single," John pointed out and smirked. "I'm sure he'd love to date you."

Aracely narrowed her eyes. "I don't think so. He would hate that I'd have him working out so much and forget my diet..."

"He could do with a little working out and yeah, you'd be screwed if he'd cook for you." John nodded and started to dig into the potato salad she had put down in front of him. "Ohhh this is good!"

"Thanks but I'll pass on your friend. He really isn't my type," she laughed as she went to the door. "You guys hungry?" she called out, unsure of where they were hiding.

"No thank you ma'am," Gibbs nodded politely as he stepped out of the shades. "Enjoy your meal."

"I made more then enough for you guys. Really, you're more than welcome," she insisted with a smile.

"Fine, we'll have some later, we're currently monitoring the traffic in this street, now that everyone's returning from their jobs."

"Okay then," she sighed as she closed the door. "They are taking this overboard I think."  
>He shrugged. "They don't know what they're missing, this is one hell of a potato salad."<p>

"Thanks," she grinned as she began to work on her own plate.

After dinner, he put the empty dishes into the dishwasher and started to fix the scene he was previously writing on. He had the most brilliant idea; they'd end up having a one night stand, which was good for writing purposes; more awkwardness between them and more humor.

***ShepFlight1:** Just wrote a hook up between Smith and Jones... #silly #Mastermind  
><strong>*ShepFlight1:<strong> Yes, I'm doing the script thing. Here's a sneak peak of the episode that we'll be shooting this week [insert twitpic]  
><strong>*ShepFlight1:<strong> I really should start unpacking these boxes... #lazy

***OfficialMind:** RT *ShepFlight1 Yes, I'm doing the script thing. Here's a sneak peak of the episode that we'll be shooting this week [insert twitpic]

***AcieMoe:** Tomorrow is the big day! #ToeTheLine

***toomuchbuggy:** *ShepFlight1 Smith and Jones? Really? Oh dear...

***meekobb:** *toomuchbuggy *ShepFlight1 Shut up...it'll be interesting development. I can't wait!

***ShepFlight1:** Oh you two! *meekobb *toomuchbuggy Don't worry, it'll be fun.  
>#kindaknowswhatheisdoing<p>

He managed just about to save the script when Ace pulled the laptop away from him with a big smile on her face. "What are you doing?"

"Checking the messages on the story," she smirked. Pulling it up, it had already nearly twenty reviews. "Tell me that doesn't make you feel better."

"Oh why did you put that up anyway?" He chuckled. "Eh... it's a bit weird."

"Because you need to see just how many people really like you, that character, and your writing. You'll do fine," she smiled as she left him with the computer. "I'm going to go take a pain killer and lay down for a bit. You know where to find me."

"Should you decide to be going home in the next few days, I'll be checking your bag to see if you've kidnapped my bed and bath." He grinned.

"You might have to," she laughed. "It's so warm and comfortable!"

"Oh, I get the message," John nodded. "I shall order the same bed for the guest room then, otherwise I'll be sleeping on the couch forever."

***notapilotjim:** *AcieMoe *BetterThanTheCar I'm meditating and hoping you'll forget your steps  
>tomorrow! *grins* #wishfulthinking<p>

***BetterThanTheCar:** *notapilotjim Here's hoping you'll be able to pull off your shoes tomorrow  
>#superglueFTW<p>

***AcieMoe:** *BetterThanTheCar *notapilotjim Unlike the two of you, I simply wish everyone the best  
>of luck and looking forward to seeing the new routines! #excited<p>

***notapilotjim:** *AcieMoe spoilsport! #yesmom

***AcieMoe:** *notapilotjim Got enough drama off set, sorry. #RealLifeSucks

***notapilotjim:** *AcieMoe Heard it. Don't worry, we've got your back! #stickingupforlittlegirls

***BetterThanTheCar:** *AcieMoe *notapilotjim He's drunk off his ass, tut tut

***ValLuv:** *AcieMoe *BetterThanTheCar *notapilotjim No he's not. I accidentally made him fall  
>today #hithishead<p>

***ShepFlight1:** is wondering what he has gotten himself in to... #crazyprofessionals

***AcieMoe:** *ShepFlight1 Now I'm hoping that we get the argentine tango...Better start working with  
>the weights at the gym! #LiftsRule<p>

***ShepFlight1:** *AcieMoe You're going to kill me! AAAH!

***BetterThanTheCar:** *AcieMoe *ShepFlight1 I don't feel sorry for you *ShepFlight1, she's a lift addict. You'll be too once she's done with you!

***ShepFlight1:** I'm going to be responsible and head to bed... I think. #checkingmail


	8. Chapter 8

The set of _Toe The Line_ was full of life and buzzing with activity. Aracely darted around whenever and wherever she was called. Dress rehearsals went without a problem except for the small problem of the body guards. When they weren't on the floor, they seemed to be _everywhere_.

John had found a quiet spot backstage - which was really hard - and was trying to read his work email on his phone. Rodney had continually been emailing him with updates of the progress on set and said that the atmosphere had been a lot different now that Dave was gone. There were LAPD officers on set to ask the cast and crew questions about the package they had received on Saturday and Rodney was glad that they didn't interrupt the filming schedule.

Teyla had been sending him text messages as well, praising Rodney on his first day and she was wishing John and Aracely luck. She also made it very clear that she and her family were going to watch tonight and told John to relax.

John was far from being relaxed. He was used to a buzzing backstage, but he could usually hide in his office when he didn't want to bother with all the craziness, but this show was madness. People were running around with costumes, spare cloths, coffee, food and talking endlessly. He'd managed to find such a good spot to hide that even his shadow Ronon wasn't around.

The picture he had taken from all the buzz was slightly blurry because everyone seemed to be moving continuously and he decided to post it to twitter.

***ShepFlight1:** Crazy #backstage #toetheline [insert twitpic]

***AcieMoe:** *ShepFlight1 MAKEUP! NOW! T - 1 hour!

Sighing, John left his hiding space and navigated his way through the crowd towards make up and the free make up artist who spotted him gasped. "Oh dear, I'm not sure if I can cover all of that, let me have a look at that... well, it seems to be light around the edges, but I am not sure if I can get rid of the dark, maybe make it a bit lighter but wow, you've took one hell of a beating."

"Just do what you can," Aracely replied from her chair where they were working on her hair, pulling and curling it until she winced. "He doesn't usually need make up like the rest of the tools here," she winked.

"Oh no, I can see that, look at those beautiful long lashes!"

John got manhandled into a chair and sighed, wanting this to be over with.

"Oh, you don't take compliments well, do you?" The woman grinned. "Just tell me when I hurt you, I'll have to work on that bruise of yours."

"Relax John," Ace smiled. "It'll be over before you know it."

"Not quite. You two have to be back tomorrow in the chair for hair and make up for the results. You never know if the judges want an encore performance," his make up artist replied as she returned back to smearing foundation on him.

John winced when she hit a sore spot. He usually didn't mind being in makeup, hell, for Roach' web-series he'd even worn prosthetics because she had written a short script about a man turning into a bug - something completely different than _The Fly_, but he was feeling uncomfortable. "I know, keep on breathing..."

"He speaks!" the woman grinned and continued tapping foundation all over his bruise, only to wipe it off quite roughly before she was done. "Nope, that's not going to work, let me try something else."

Ace watched him and frowned. "What if we got something from props? Phantom of the Opera type mask? It could work with the routine and your costume," she shrugged.

He fiddled a pill from his pocket and swallowed it dry. _I thought make up artists were supposed to be gentle_, he thought. "Sure, why not? It's cheaper than a face transplant."

"I think that's for the best, yes. Maybe I can do something with it next week, but right now it's still too dark to be covered up without making it look like you've got a big lump on the side of your head," the artist agreed. "I'll go and dig something up."

"Sorry about that," Ace said, reaching over and patted his arm.

"Sorry about what?" John looked at her and he couldn't help but notice how great she looked.

"Making you go through this. I should have realized make up would still be too much," she frowned.

John shrugged. "It's fine, I didn't even know it would hurt this much still."

One of the prop masters came in then and eyed John. "Yeah, I got just the thing for you," he smiled as he went to fit him for a soft mask that molded around the curves of his face. "How's that?"

"Surprisingly supportive," John nodded. "Thanks."

"Not a problem man," the guy said as he left.

Chuck, the show's co-host had poked his head in. "Sheppard and Morales? You're performing second!" he announced before darting off down the hall to find other couples.

_At least we're not the first..._ he thought and waited by the door. He knew that Ace was going to leave soon for the professional opening dance but in all the craziness that was going on, it almost looked like Ace had a bubble of serenity around her. "You look great."

"Thanks," she grinned as she wrapped her arm around his and pulled him out with her. "You need to stay close to the stage for me to find you when we're done. I'm going to have like two minutes to change so I'll need someone to watch my back."

"Uhm, okay," he nodded. "You're the boss," he smirked.

They waited nearby as the audience filled in and it felt like a blink of an eye when filming started. The show's host on the floor was Walter Harriman, a former ballroom champion himself. Turning to John she smiled up at him. "I'll be back soon," she said as she ran over to get into place for the performance as the music started.

John was amazed by how they all danced, and Ace seemed to look truly in her element on that dance floor. He got startled by Ronon who was tapping him on the shoulder and when John looked up, Ronon looked disapproving. "Never walk out on me, I don't care that you need to be alone, next time you want to be alone, I'll be alone with you, you got that?" He said in a low voice. "You almost gave me a heart attack."

"Didn't know you cared."

"I don't, but I get paid to care and look after your ass."

"Sorry," John apologized. "It won't happen again."

Ronon was quiet for a while and sighed. "Next opportunity you get huh?"

"Probably," John smiled at him.

As the performance ended, they cut to commercial. Aracely returned and handed the men a large sheet. "Hold it up," she ordered as she already started to pull at the fabric to get it off and her second dress on in time.

John looked away when he held up the sheet and kicked Ronon in the shins when he caught him looking. "That was awesome, Ace."

He only shrugged innocently. "You can't blame a guy," he muttered.

"Thanks guys," she grinned as she pulled the shoulder strap up. "I'm ready. How about you?" she asked John as she wrapped her arm around him and led him to where everyone was lining up.

"Uhm... ask me that again when today's over." John nodded.

"Oh wow, you look hot!" Valencia Doran - yes, the former playboy model - smiled widely as she looked at Aracely and then at John. "You don't look so bad either."

"Isn't she a peach?" Cam Mitchell, her dance partner, smiled widely. "Flirting with everything and everyone. You should really rest your shoulder more, Ace. You moved a bit stiffly."

"Give her a break Cam," Aiden sighed. "I think you two are troopers for continuing this with everything that's going on, are you okay?"

"Yeah, we're great," she replied as she stuck by John. "Our routine is going to blow yours to smithereens Mitchell."

"Bring it, Morales," Cam laughed and winked at her. "You're the new girl, you've got something to prove."

"I think by beating you three consecutive years at Nationals is proof enough," Aiden nodded.

"Ohh ouch," Janet Fraser chuckled.

Cam stuck his tongue out to Janet. "I _let_ her win, only because Aiden's so sexy."

"Oh god!" Ace cried covering her face. "I did not need that image in my head!"

"You went there!" Mitchell laughed. "Not us! You! You dirty little girl!"

"You went there first!" she replied shaking herself. "You ready John? Cause they are about to call our names..."

"Yeah, I'm fine," he smiled, "Not too entirely sure if I'm ready but don't worry."

Aracely looked up him. "With you, I always worry," she said softly with a smile. Before he had a chance to respond, their names were announced and she had tugged him forward down the steps. She looked up at him and poked at his cheek to make sure he was smiling as they made the long entrance down the winding staircase that lead down to the dance floor.

"The newest addition to the professional dancers, Aracely Morales with actor and writer of hit series _Masterminds_, John Sheppard!" Walter's voice sounded through the speakers.

"Keep smiling," she muttered through clenched teeth for John as she made a point to wave at cameras and the audience.

John was scared and uncomfortable as hell, but he felt how he easily slipped into the 'nothing's wrong, saving my ass' mode and followed her lead, she didn't need to tell him to smile, he just wondered if his cheeks were going to need a massage after this night of all the smiling he needed to do during it all. "Are you going to massage my cheeks tonight?" He said, only for her to hear as he grinned.

Aracely tried to keep from snorting. "Don't tempt me..."

As Walter continued on introducing all the participants and the judges, the group that weren't going to be performing on the next segment got to go sit up in the fishbowl while the first two couples ran backstage. Instead of peeking through the curtain, she pulled John away and looked up at him. "Remember when we go out there, ignore everyone. It's just you and me, in the studio by ourselves. Okay? Just another rehearsal."

"Yeah, don't worry, I can do this," John nodded. "I'm currently in survival mode, I can do anything," he grinned. "Even ignore everything else."

"Good," she nodded back. "Because I feel like I want to throw up..." she laughed nervously.

"What? Oh please Miss Tyson, you can't abandon me, you can throw up when you're at home."

"Sir? Miss? You can go take your places now," one of the stage hands spoke up from behind John.

"Let's go knock 'em dead," she grinned, tightening her grip on his hand as they made their way out in the darkened room. All that played was the edited footage that was shot during their meeting and various practices with some interviews.

"Yeah just don't bite off my ear," he snickered.

"Don't tempt me Sheppard," she whispered as the lights rose and Walter began to speak more.

"You just finished seeing Aracely and John - energetic meeting! Now let's see what they bring to the dance floor!"

It took a few moments before the music started and it was as if they moved like it was breathing. Fairly easy and effortless. It was good that she insisted on working through her shoulder because it allowed it to become comfortable with the motions and not_appear_ as stiff as she had with the professional opening sequence. By the time they finished on the ending notes, she panted heavily into John's shoulder until the music stopped completely before tightening her arms around him into a hug. Jumping in his arms she couldn't stop laughing. "We did it! You were great!"

"You were amazing," he laughed. He had felt a difference in her hold during their routine, maybe a little nervous and he thought that was weird, this woman, this amazing woman, stood up to his brother and she was nervous on the dance floor? John was doing his best to keep it together himself, and he had found the strength in _her_ to not run away and hide and just forget about it all.

They made their way over to the side by Walter still grinning. "Wow, what a performance!" the man exclaimed. "I know _I_ loved it, and the audience sure did! We know that your continued participation was in question due to injuries you both have been dealing with last week from an altercation. Is everything alright now? I see that you still have bruising that our wonderful prop master managed to help out with John."

"Yeah, even the wonders of your make up artists didn't work, but we're fine." John responded.

Walter turned to Aracely really quickly. "Before we go to the judges for their comments, how proud are you of John tonight?"

"Oh very. He's worked so hard since day one - even though I had to bribe him to practice more if I okay'd beer with his dinner. You still owe me a six pack by the way," she looked up at him.

"I do?" John asked sheepishly. "We'll deal with that later."

"Alright then, let's go to our judges, starting with Laura!"

The pretty red head's straight face slowly turned into a big devilish grin. "That was an absolutely great routine. It was powerful and full of emotion - something we don't get to see too often on week one of the competition but I have to say that you both … I can't wait to see more!"

"Sounds like Laura's loving it! Steven?"

Stephen sighed and shook his head. "I have to agree with Laura, you two were remarkable; the degree of technique combined with emotion was incredible, especially for the first week. I liked the way it almost seemed as if you two were sown to each other, and moved in tandem. _However_... Aracely, I could see that you still have issues with your shoulder, and I suggest you give it some rest, because I can't wait to see what you will come up with next, and John? Don't slouch so much, it's very unattractive."

Aracely frowned but nodded at the critique. She expected as much from the man. Her hand went to John's back and poked him to get him up straighter with a grin.

Walter smiled as he looked over to the last judge. "David? What say you?"

"John," he grinned shyly. "You were absolutely wonderful! I could see that you were trying to be careful with the young lady and that is just fine. Hopefully next time neither of you will be quite so sore after the events that we can see you both at 100%. Aracely you sexy girl you! Such a fluid and sensual routine. It was like your body's spoke to each other. I can't _wait_ to see how you do with the rumba! Rawr!"

"The rumba? Really David? It's just week one!" Steven huffed. "This is a _family_ show, remember?"

"Yes, but I can still dream about these two, can't I?"

"Oh I'm sure they'd do fine." Laura grinned.

"Okay then! You two head on up for your scores and get away from David while you can. I think he might try to take you home with him tonight if he could!" Walter joked as he started in on a live sell of one of the show's sponsors.

Aracely was pulling him up the stairs in a sudden rush of extra energy, making funny little noises almost sounding like a school girl receiving her first A, and John laughed - for real, not in survival mode.

Chuck was waiting as the two entered, grinning. "Wow! That was a great performance. How are you feeling now that is out of the way?" he asked.

"Phenomenal," she let out breathless and looked over at John to finish talking as she was catching her breath still.

"Absolutely great," John nodded.

"Aracely, you used to compete with some of our professionals here. How does it feel to see them again? To be racing each other for the trophy?" he added, looking at her. Behind them, Aiden snuck up, tapping John on the shoulder to move before he took Ace in a big hug from behind and laid a wet kiss on her cheek.

"Agh! You idiot," she laughed as she pushed him away. "It's great. We were joking backstage earlier like it was nothing. Even if we don't make it to the end, I'll be satisfied if we last longer than Mitchell!"

"Hey!" Mitchell called out.

"Alright, well let's get your scores," Chuck laughed as they turned to watch the small television with the judges sitting at the podium.

Laura was first and quickly held up the 8 paddle with a big grin. "8!"

Aracely cheered as she jumped to hug John happily at such a high score.

Steven shook his head and held up his. "7!"

"7!" David held up his paddle with a great big smile and looked at Laura. "No wait! 8!" He changed his paddle for the right one. "Can't stay behind now, can I?"

"So what is it? 7 or 8?" Walter asked for confirmation.

"8!"

"Well that's a 23 for Aracely and John!" Chuck announced. "How does it feel to have such a high score right out of the box?"

"Absolutely mind boggling! I was hoping at least for sixes across the board when I planned the routine but never imagined this! Thank you!" she said breathless as she went to hug John again.

"If you love John and Aracely, don't forget to vote for them tonight! E-mail, telephone and text message your vote in!" Chuck spoke into the camera. "We'll be back after these messages with two more performances!"

"Wow Ace, that was amazing!" Aiden pulled her into a hug as John and her made their way over to the couch.

"Thanks! It was certainly shocking!" she replied after she fell into a heap. "I'm just glad that we can relax some finally. Not that it matters. If we survive tomorrow we'll be starting on a whole new routine."

"After that? Yeah, you better get your ass in gear." Mitchell laughed. "You always were great."

She didn't say anything other than to rest her head on John's shoulder tiredly. "I could sleep for ages right now."

He chuckled and put his arm around her. "You and me both."

"Ya know, if I didn't know Ace like I do, I would probably believe that gossip hound's rumors that you two are an item," Aiden said quietly so that others didn't hear.

John glared at Aiden. "Even if you didn't know Ace like you do, I'm technically still married and wouldn't cheat despite the pending divorce."

"Hey no offense man! I was just saying! You two do look like a cute couple and I'd totally root for you two if you did get together. But Aracely hasn't dated anyone - and I mean _no one_ - since she and Peter Grodin broke up. That was a mess."

"You know I can hear you," she muttered. "It's not that big of a deal."

"Sorry chicklet. You know how I am," he replied.

"Yeah. Just let us rest while we can? Please?"

John loved being in Aracely's 'bubble' for a while and didn't mind her head on his shoulder as they watched the others perform on the little monitor in the middle of the room. Ronon was standing out of sight of the camera's in the room, while Murray was probably downstairs somewhere. John knew that they were going to bring them home after the show, and he also knew he'd just collapse on the couch and forget about everything.

"You know that we were supposed to make an appearance on a daytime show tomorrow? After the hospital visit they cancelled it expecting us to drop out of the show," she muttered as the judges spoke about the Sam the science girl's performance.

"Teyla didn't tell me about that," he said softly.

She shrugged with a slight wince. "Yeah. We thought it was better not to say anything. I don't think I could handle getting up so early right now. I only just remembered about it myself."

"As long as you two aren't conspiring against me, everything is fine... I just want to sleep like forever and break something... like a finger... so I won't have to feel my throbbing face."

"If you break a finger, you wouldn't be able to work on your stories," she grinned.

"You want more of that filth, don't you?" he chuckled.

She turned her head and waggled her eyebrows. "Explicitly."

"Well, considering I do have software that turns speech into words... what? I can be lazy sometimes when writing a script!" he smiled. "Fine, I'll humor you by writing something more explicit when I need a breather from fixing stuff."

"Sounds great," she said as Chuck started announcing for everyone to start heading back down to the dance floor for the ending lineup. "We still still have some post show interviews in the back when we're done here but I'm hoping we can get through that quickly."

"Alright," he said softly as he followed her. He really needed to start watching these shows, only to slightly expect what was going to happen. "Then can we go home and crash?"

"Oh yes. Hope you don't mind sharing the couch because I don't think I can make it up the steps," she replied as she grinned for everyone.

His heart made an unexpected jump at the mention of her staying over again. "No, I take the couch, I'll airlift you up to the bed."

"Fine," she rolled her eyes. "I think we have another hour and then we should be able to bail. I am starting to hurt - a lot."

"I have an ibuprofen for you if you want."

She nodded as she hung on him, as if he were a life preserver as they made their way through the media circus. It looked innocent enough, two friends, but there was a set of eyes that no one noticed, focused on them the entire time.

Ronon had handed him a water bottle and he passed it to Ace before fishing his last ibuprofen out of his pocket. "Here." He was ignoring all the media and was just trying to get through this.

"I think a trip to Maybourne's tomorrow is in order. You game?" she asked as she looked around.

"Oh, massages!" He grinned. "Yes, definitely, unless Rodney calls me."

"Screw him. We need to relax after this," she snapped. "He can wait. Sorry but he got it easy right now."

"Yeah, he does... yes, screw him." John agreed. "He's got everything he needs, especially this week."

"And we need to start working on the new dance. I have no clue what we are getting. If we get through elimination, the dance and music will be waiting for us at the studio. I'm afraid of what it could be. I think I'd rather something slow again but I doubt it."

"Well, I'm sure you can find a way to get some relief on your shoulder."

"Ice it down a lot," she said before it was their turn to get thrown questions from one reporter after another from different entertainment shows.

The questions were about the dancing at first, which was fine, John had no problem answering them, but when they started to become more personal; mentioning the beach photos, his divorce, the fight with Dave, he just didn't respond. It felt wrong. There were questions about Dave's health and future too, and that was just ridiculous. He completely understood that people wanted to know, but this was not the place or time to discuss it all.

"It's a situation unrelated to the show that is being handled," Aracely replied diplomatically. "As far as John and I, we are just friends no matter how much you all see into things that aren't there. Thank you," she ended and they walked away to the next person to deal with much the same way.

When they were finally able to go home, with Murray driving and Ronon in the front seat, John made himself comfortable on the back seat of the car. "What's the plan for tonight?" Ronon asked. "Do we drop you off at your own house, Miss Morales?"

"I think it is wise if you wouldn't do that media walk tomorrow or next week," Murray added. "There were too many people there and a lot could have happened to you."

"We can't _not_ do it," she sighed. "It's a part of the job."

"Then I will talk to your producers tomorrow and ask for more security."

"Fine. I'll go wherever. I don't care. I just want to sleep right now," she yawned as she fell back against John tiredly.

John ended up carrying Ace's sleeping form up the stairs of his home and gently placed her on the bed, she was fast asleep. He pulled off her sneakers and tucked her in. He grabbed some clean clothes and a towel and went for a hot shower himself, turning on the pulse setting to give him a little massage and sleepily walked down the stairs to crash on the couch, but not before he took two ibuprofen. As soon as he pulled the duvet around him, he was out.

The following morning, Aracely stretched out in the bed and blinked a few times before she could really bother with any actual_thinking_. Her shoulder was still sore and hoped to hell that they wouldn't be the surprise encore that night. Rolling over, she groaned and pulled the pillow over and curled up under the blankets more. Yes, she thought that staying in a little longer was worth it despite her phone buzzing on the end table.

John groaned when he woke up on the floor. For some reason, while he was sleeping, his brain thought it was a great idea to sleep on the floor. His muscles were feeling cramped and he felt sore all over as he scrambled to his feet and plopped back on the couch._No, coffee..._ he got up again and groggily made his way over to the kitchen to make some coffee.

There was a box of fresh donuts from a local bakery and a to-go box of coffee sitting on the counter. Gibbs and another new guy sat at the table with what appeared to be sketches of John's house and surrounding area as well as the studio and Aracely's house discussing various methods of increasing the security and their perimeter rounds quite heavily.

"Good morning..." John said groggily. "Please don't tell me something happened."

"Okay," Gibbs replied as he took a long pull of his coffee and continued to study the papers.

"Thank you." John nodded and made his way over to the fridge to make a sandwich.

Gibbs didn't look at the man and pointed out the coffee and donuts. "Picked it on my way to relieve the other team. Your coffee sucks."

John snorted. "Well, tell me your brand and I'll get it for you," he retorted and took the coffee. "Thanks though."

Banks, the new face, looked up at his senior. "What do you think? Camera here, here, and here?" he asked, pointing at different corners of the property. "I can set up monitors somewhere inside and get Nell to watch from the office as well in case we're away from it."

John shot the two of them a look and grabbed his laptop before making his way out of the kitchen. He did _not_ want to know, but knew that the sprite upstairs would raise hell if they wouldn't tell her. He chuckled as he wrapped himself up in his duvet again and booted his laptop. He was going to order that extra bed because he knew he wouldn't survive another night on the couch.

***ShepFlight1:** Good morning everyone. Made a few new friends already. #coffee  
><strong>*ShepFlight1:<strong> Did you guys watch last night? #ToeTheLine #broken

***toomuchbuggy:** *ShepFlight1 You and *AcieMoe were amazing! I totally voted a few times!  
>#ToeTheLine<p>

***meekobb:** *ShepFlight1 I don't think that you and *AcieMoe should worry about getting through,  
>you rocked! #ToeTheLine<p>

After Aracely finally dragged herself out of bed and took a shower, she pulled out her portable heating pad, grateful she remembered to put fresh batteries in. Securing it around her shoulder after she went lazy with a beach style tubetop in hopes of getting as much heat in her shoulder and not through a piece of clothing, she made her way downstairs. "I smell coffee!" she called out.

"And donuts," John added as he had his eyes glued to his computer already, missing her as she went into the kitchen.

It was quiet for a few minutes, but you could hear sounds of discussion filtering in from the other room to where he sat. "What?" she screamed out, causing him to jump and nearly drop the computer.

_Bingo_ he sighed and made his way over to the kitchen after safely putting away his computer. "Ace?"

"Tell him," she said, pointing at him when he walked in. "Better yet - _show_ him."

"He didn't want to know," Gibbs replied and shrugged.

"He needs to know!"

"Ace, calm down will you, it's too early to get upset." John sighed.

She darted her good arm out and took the photos that were hidden under the large sketches. "Look."

Sighing, John took a look at the photos. They were obviously taken last night, showing John sleeping on the floor. "Oh. So that's why you guys are here," he put the photos back on the table. "Right... now what?"

"We are going to double up on the security, add several cameras where you two are the most. I have a team already working on your place ma'am," Banks replied. "I heard you were discussing about the possibility of you going home? I'd recommend against separating more than you need to. It's just easier for us to cover more ground with you together."

"Then we'll have to stay at _your_ place, Ace... I don't think I can survive another night on the couch... I was in the middle ordering an extra bed when you screamed just now." John sighed.

"I also suggest you don't order anything and I know you have a solid fan base on twitter, but you're not going to tweet until this is solved." Gibbs said.

"Oh we can't do that," she replied. "That's like cutting off my leg! Look, what if we agree to not respond to fans. Just people we know personally?" she reasoned.

"I don't compromise," Gibbs said.

"Well tough shit," she glared at him. "This is hard enough. Why don't you do our food shopping for us while you're at it. Forget that we might not be able to eat some things."

"Fine, no retweets or responses," the man sighed.

Aracely nodded with satisfaction as she pulled the photos out of John's hand to look at again. "How did they get this close to the house? Where was what's their faces?"

"There was a situation in front of the house," Banks replied. "Apparently two people aren't enough to watch over you so now we're going to work in teams of four, maybe six."

"Joy," she sighed as she curiously looked into the box of donuts. She wanted one but was always so steadfast in maintaining her diet because it did help with her energy levels, especially for practice.

John had made his way back to the living room and had made himself comfortable on the couch again with his laptop. He typed up an email to Rodney, Teyla and his lawyer to give them a heads up and told them what happened during the night. Rodney, pretending not to care, immediately sent back an email with a script attached to it; next week's shooting script, with the text 'insert Nick', which actually made John chuckle.

Sure, for someone to have gotten close to his house and take pictures like that was scary, but at least it had been _him_ and not Aracely. He sighed and realized that she was in this mess with him because of one single word; 'yes'.

With her coffee mug, she fell onto the couch next him. "Do you want to pack a bag to bring to my house? May as well keep some things there for awhile if we're going to be in the competition."

"I don't know... maybe we shouldn't," he answered.

"You heard him in there. It does make sense. I have the extra room and the studio," she reminded him.

"I know that. I'm just not too sure about staying together as much as possible, not that I don't like your company... it's probably because I never even spend this amount of time around Nancy and I _really_ enjoy my own company."

"Is it because of the tabloid rumors? Fuck them. If you need to space to yourself, just let me know. I can find some other place in the house to hang out. Or you can just got back to your room," she shrugged. "At least it's not a lumpy sofa..."

"No way I'm allowing you to sleep on the couch when there's a perfectly fine bed upstairs for you to sleep on." John shook his head. "Fine, I'll get some stuff in a bit."

Aracely smiled as she looked at him. "Good," she replied and sat quietly as she sipped her coffee.

"I received an email from Teyla this morning, she said she's proud of us and that Torren, her son, was cheering us on the entire time," John said as he finished fixing the script Rodney had sent back to him. "And Rodney wanted Nick in next week's shooting episode so I inserted him a little in there. He's going to be the death of me."

"Well I for one am glad to see you being more receptive about it. I suppose I should anticipate more rehearsals to happen on your set," she replied.

"Oh no," John chuckled. "I just written enough of Nick to keep Rodney satisfied and I'll continue re-writing the other scripts the way I have thought out. I'll be needed for about a day next week, and there'll be a writers meeting on Friday night after the read through of the upcoming shooting script."

She rolled her eyes. "Right," she said. "I'll go find out how when the Tweedles in there want to head out." Ace shook her head as she got up and disappeared into the kitchen, feeling slightly down that he was so resistant about such a great role.

***AcieMoe:** Some people don't realize what is in front of them... #blindasbats

***ShepFlight1:** I'll be making more friends in the next few days #packingup  
><strong>*ShepFlight1:<strong> For the time being, I'm not allowed to RT or respond to any of you out there in the 'verse #playingbytherules

It was early in the afternoon yet that the group made their way into Aracely's house. As soon as they were through the front door, she let her bags fall and she collapsed over them. "Home!" she sighed, looking like a kid after a long road trip.

John had been on the phone with his lawyer ever since they stepped out of the car, Kavanaugh was getting worried about the whole situation and was against John being with his dancing partner all the time outside of practising. He was getting frustrated with him so as soon as they got into Ace's house, he tossed the phone to Gibbs. "Here, you explain it."

Gibbs just looked at the phone, hung up and tossed it back.

"Of course," John rolled his eyes and went upstairs to the guest room to dump his stuff there.

After they settled in, and Aracely glared at the people still installing additional cameras around her property, inside and out, she headed into the kitchen and looked to get something to eat made. Opening her cabinets, she frowned, closing them. "Who went food shopping?" she called out. The cabinets and fridge was all stocked with food. Food that she was positive she didn't buy and wasn't there when she went to stay with John.

"Neither of us and I assume neither of you because you've been with us at all times," Banks replied. "Let me see."

She stepped back at let him have at it. "I know that John's Teyla did some shopping after the hospital last week but there wasn't nearly this much. She got only enough for a couple days."

"Better be safe than sorry, everything will get sent to the LAPD for testing and finger prints. Let's pack it up and we'll take you food shopping afterwards." the man said as he pulled on some gloves and found a few bin bags below the sink. "So predictable, everyone keeps their bags there." He grinned.

"It's convenient," she shrugged, rubbing her arms as she stood back watching.

"Look, I know this isn't easy for you. We're intruding on your life and we're probably going to do some damage with getting this place secure. But trust me, we're the best." Banks smiled at her. "And if you and Mr. Sheppard want some privacy, just tell us and we'll stay downstairs."

She glared at him. "We're not like that," she growled. "Your people should be able to tell you that. Those tabloids are spouting lies."

"I'm not reading tabloids, ma'am. I'm an expert in body language."

"Because I might find the man attractive? So? Half the women in the country finds him attractive. Nothing wrong with that," she replied.

"It's more than attraction, but I'll let it rest. I'm sorry for what I said."

"Right," she said as she grabbed a glass and poured a glass of water from the sink. "How about one of your muscled tools go get us something to eat for lunch in the meanwhile. We have leave about 5pm to head to the studio for tonight's filming."

"How about Sam taking you and Mr. Sheppard for some groceries shopping? Or would you like to stay indoors?"

Aracely thought about it. "I have no problem going. I think that John would want to stay and get some work done while he could."

"Alright. Hey Hanna, want to take Ms. Morales for some food shopping?"

"Sure Banks," the tall, bulky man answered. "It's good to stretch some legs!"

"Let me go find out what John wants and grab my purse. I'll be back down shortly," she said as she headed upstairs. Knocking on John's closed door, she waited.

"I'm sleeping!" John pulled the pillow over his face. The bed was a huge improvement over his couch.

"Just coming to see what you want me to pick up at the market," she grinned, talking through the door.

"Steaks and beer... come in, I'll give you some money," He sighed as he rolled out of bed and reached for his wallet.

"No need. You'll just be responsible for the next trip," Aracely replied, sticking her head in the door. "I'll be sure to get plenty of meat and beer. Anything else?"

"Chips?" John shrugged. "Oh, bread and mayonnaise and turkey?"

"No problem," she grinned. "Be back soon!"

He watched her leave and close the door again. He grabbed his laptop and crawled back in bed. At least for a little while, John could be in his own little bubble again, writing away, fixing things while listening to some random songs on his laptop.

He loved this. Some scripts were a little harder to adjust than others, especially the one he was working on now, and he was sure that Rodney would send them back for whatever reason, but he had found a great way to make 'Mike' disappear, and it fit perfectly in the season finale where there would be an explosion first and they'd find his charred remains. The props department had made a dummy of Dave's body and face for season one, John was going to beg them if he could set a torch to it.

For a little while, everything felt as if it was back to normal. He pretended to be in some hotel room, getting inspired and singing along with the online radio station while he words flowed from his fingers.


	9. Chapter 9

It was late that night that the group finally made their way back to Aracely's house. They survived eliminations and unfortunately, a popular reality ME, Jimmy Palmer, didn't make it. It took them a little longer to get out as she had to wait for them to give her the music for their performance the following week.

When they got out of the chauffeured sedan, driven by one of the agency's undercover body guards, there was some commotion as there was someone waiting on the porch. A woman and a man that Aracely didn't recognize, but John did as he let out a growl of pure irritation.

"What do you want, Nancy?" John said as he walked towards her and her lawyer. He was not in the mood for this.

"I wanted to see if it were true for my own eyes," she smiled. "So you did move in? Interesting John. I admit I wasn't expecting this of you."

"Nancy," her lawyer warned in a low tone. "Mr. Sheppard, we just wished to - see - for ourselves that you and this - woman - are not intimate as it would certainly negate on your end of the prenup."

Gibbs put his gun back in his holster. "Mr. Sheppard and Ms. Morales can get better protection of they are in one place instead of each in their own home. I can assure you that there is nothing but friendship with these two people."

"You know me, Nance, I'm better at sticking to our vows than you are. She's my friend. I am staying in her guest room."

"Get inside Sheppard." Gibbs nudged him towards the house.

"So what he told Todd is true. There's a stalker on your ass?" Nancy asked as she followed them in, ignoring the look the body guards gave.

"Both our asses and I can't figure out why."

The woman looked around and kept her hands in her pockets as if she was going to catch some sort of disease in the already clean home. It just wasn't as expensive or elaborate as she preferred so it was _dirty_. "I am not interested in having anything to do with you or _that_. I just wanted to make sure that what blue eyes there said was true. I have the signed paperwork with your last offer. Now I can get on with my life and forget about you."

John blinked at her and looked at Gibbs. "You got her here?"

"No," he said, shaking his head. "I just got one threat off the list of dealing with."

"Thanks Gibbs," John sighed and looked back at Nancy. "And thank you too, I might even think you still care."

Aracely had been lingering at the top of the steps, listening, slipping past the group once they got inside and narrowed her eyes as his _now_ ex-wife laughed. "Hardly," she heard. "I just don't want to be accused of something I have nothing to do with. Let's go Todd. We're done here."

John sighed a breath of relief when Nancy left and the door got closed. "Wow."

Banks grinned at Aracely and gave her the thumbs up.

She glared at him as she stood and headed out of sight as she went to her bedroom. As if! Although, she couldn't deny that there was some other feeling there that she was too afraid to admit to. Sleep was what she wanted more as the morning was going to be_early_.

John headed to the kitchen and grabbed a beer as he sat down to look at the papers. He still couldn't believe it that at least the Nancy part was over.

"I'm sorry," Gibbs sat down next to him. "I just needed to eliminate suspects, and I _know_ what it's like to be in a brutal divorce. Hell, I've been through three."

"Don't apologize, it's fine..." John said slowly. "It's just... I don't know, maybe I'm old fashioned but I thought marriage was to last forever, that I would provide for her for the rest of my life, take care of her and stuff like that. The divorce... now that it's over... I don't know, it's weird."

"You'll get used to it."

"Even when I moved out and bought my house, you know... that was weird. It's still weird. It's not like I saw her much during our marriage but the house was empty. I was all by myself, and I still am."

"You can start over," Gibbs shrugged. "You're a great guy from what I can see, Sheppard, and I'm sure that you'll turn out okay. A divorce is always messy, usually not as publicly displayed as yours, but you'll get over it." The man took a sip from his coffee and shrugged. "I can see why you're such a wuss though, that woman walked right over you."

John blinked. "And yet, I had the balls to file for divorce first."

"Which was a great start," he nodded. "You'll find your balance eventually. Things are a bit crazy right now, there's your work, there's the dancing, there's your brother and there's the stalker problem, but it will work out in the end, but you need to accept that you can't control everything that's going on in your life."

"I like to have control."

"Yeah, but you're lacking it right now, when I look at you, I see a guy who doesn't have a clue what he's doing, that he's in over his head. You should start with delegating, making decisions that benefit you. Start with that." Gibbs got up and took another sip of his coffee. "That's the end of today's therapy session. Finish your beer and go to bed."

* * *

><p>Ace had dragged him out of bed early that morning by jumping on his bed while a camera crew was on her six. "John! John! John!" She sounded like a hyper school kid. "They're not allowing us to go <em>there<em> so we're staying _here_ and look what they've brought!"

"Coffee?" John said groggily and pulled the covers over his head.

"No! Our dance assignment stupid. Get your ass out of bed and dressed." She kept jumping until he was out of bed, fortunately for him dressed in his jogging pants and a shirt.

Ten minutes later, he was fully dressed, shaved and awake after having downed a quick coffee and found himself in Ace's dance studio, and she was grinning like a Cheshire cat.

"I don't like the look on your face," he noted.

"We got the Cha cha cha and you're going to _love_ the idea I had in mind!" She jumped up and down and played the song.

It was 'Old time rock and roll' by Bob Seger, and reminded him of something but he wasn't entirely sure what and Ace's enthusiasm scared him.

She paused the song and grinned. "Do you remember Tom Cruise in _Risky Business_?"

"Oh no..." John groaned and watched how Aracely pulled off her shoes and started sliding and dancing. Tom Cruise was wearing only his socks, shorts and a t-shirt during that little thing. "You're crazy."

"Yes, but you can pull it off! Come on John, it'll be fun!"

"Dancing around in my boxers?"

"Yeah! You bare a striking resemblance to Tom Cruise, it'll be so much fun! You can show them that you're not the silly introverted writer guy."

"But I am the silly introverted writer guy!"

"Nope, this week, you're Tom Cruise! And this is your _liberation_," she grinned as she made her way back over.

"You'd have to get me drunk before I'd do anything like _that_." He reluctantly took off his shoes.

"Slide with me," Aracely made her way over and grabbed his hand. "Just pretend you are a kid right now. That's all I want from you. The floors are newly waxed so it'll be extra slippery and fun!"

He didn't even have time to comment as she was pulling her with him in her run with that same big smile on her face. It was like skiing, without the ski's. And what the hell, he could humor her and at least _try_ to have fun? John chuckled as he fell down flat on his ass after a few tries and took a few deep breaths to get his breathing stabilized again.

On the last go, he managed to stay on his feet but she slipped and collided into his legs forcing him to fall down over her. Aracely was laughing so hard she had tears in her eyes and hadn't realized the extra weight on her.

John was a little slow in getting up, mostly because his laughter was causing the muscles in his arms to have turned into jelly. "Are you okay?" he hiccuped as he tried to get off off her but kept collapsing in a heap of giggles.

"Yeah," she heaved out with some effort because all the laughing took a bit of the energy and breath out of her. By the time she managed to sit up and look at him, her smile shifted. "See? You can have fun if you let yourself," she whispered, keeping the comment between them and not for the cameras.

"You're a brilliant woman," he grinned and got to his feet before helping her off the floor.

"So let's start going over some basic cha cha moves," she said. "Now lets see you roll and shake your hips like this..." she grinned as she demonstrated and chuckled at the redness that crept into the man's cheeks.

He was glad when they took a break for lunch and the camera crew went away. John was munching on a sandwich while he was checking his email and he rolled his eyes when Rodney sent back another revised script with the words 'More Nick Damnit!'

Aracely had popped up behind him and peeked at the computer as she picked at her own sandwich. "I think it's about time for you to post that poll," she smirked as she pinched his cheek and walked away to talk to one of the guards about something.

"What poll?" John asked her but she was already gone. He knew exactly what she was talking about, he had been thinking about it for a while now, and maybe it was a good thing to let the fans decide. Creating a fake email address, he registered as RepressedSoul and looked for the right thread on the official website.

_I'm not sure if TPTB will ever get to see this, but after writing my little fic the other day [link], I was wondering if there were more people like me who would love to see Nick being fleshed out as a 3D character instead of the 2D character he is now. *grins* Now that Dave Sheppard is away from the show, maybe they could make Nick the lead character? Yes, wishful thinking I know, but yeah... just thinking here._

He winced at the language he used, it almost sounded as if he was one of _them_ and looked away when he clicked on 'post message'. Closing his laptop, he took his cup of coffee with him to the living room. "Done, now stay out of my head, it's mine." He messed up Ace's hair and sat down on the couch.

"Good. We got more practice later so rest up while you can," she replied as she joined him, curling her legs under her and turning the television on.

"Welcome to ATE news and you're going to love this! Writer and Actor of tv series _Masterminds_ John Sheppard is officially single! Ladies this is your chance! Of course, you'd have to go through his dancing partner Aracely Morales first!"

"Oh lord," she snickered as she watched them go on about the tabloids and legal rumors.

"Please change the channel," John sighed as he took a sip of his coffee.

She changed it to a Law & Order marathon and looked over at him. "I like watching to see how much they actually get right and wrong. It's rather amusing," she shrugged.

"I don't like seeing myself on TV. Sometimes when I'm at home and Masterminds is on, I watch it to see how it shows on the screen, but whenever it's an episode I'm in, I'm changing the channel." He shuddered. "And now to see them spout lies? That's even worse."

"True, but you and I know it's not true," she replied. "And that's what matters. Ohh! Why don't you and your friend Rodney go out? Have a guys' night. We can have practice end earlier so that you can do something and come back in time to get a decent night's rest."

"Sure," John nodded. "Sounds like a plan," he took his phone and dialled Rodney's number. "Hey Rodney, going crazy yet? No? Okay... how about this? I'll insert more 'Nick' into that script you sent back, you go out for a boys night out tonight?" It was quiet for a while and John sighed. "Please? We can eh... I don't know... let's just go to a bar or something? Celebrate that Nancy's finally decided to agree? Yes, we're... yes, pick me up after work, I want to have dinner out too." He then laughed. "Yes, she's letting me." A shadow moved into his vision and looked up to see a frowning Gibbs. "Hold on, I'll have to clear it... Gibbs, can I please go out tonight with my friend?"

"As long as you take Callen and Hanna with you," he gave a nod.

"Thanks. Yes Rodney, pick me up when you're done, see you in a bit."

Aracely looked over at John as he hung up. "Feeling better now?" she smiled.

John downed his mug of coffee and nodded. "Might be a good thing for me to go out with him tonight."

She batted her eyes as she angled her ear towards him, waiting innocently for a certain phrase. When it didn't come right away, she cleared her throat and cupped her ear with her hand. "And?"

"Thank you?" he guessed.

She leaned into his personal space and smiled at him warmly. "You're welcome," she said before getting up and headed for the door. "I'll be downstairs working on the routine. Have fun!"

John went after her. "Rodney's not done yet, he has at least a couple more hours. I'm all yours until then."

"Oh?" she looked back. "Should I be excited?" she winked.

"Unless you're giving me the rest of the day off, I mean... I can completely agree to that!"

"If I give you the day off, you better be working twice as hard tomorrow," Aracely said as she turned around and looked up at him. "If you thought the last three weeks were hard, we had all that time for one routine. It's cut back to a week now and will get harder, up to three routines in the week."

"Well exactly, that's why I'm all yours until maybe half an hour until Rodney arrives so I can clean myself up."

"Very well. We'll continue with the standard steps until you get comfortable with them," she waved him on and just about 'cracked' that whip.

Women were confusing. John thought that Ace would be happy that he'd continue practicing with her without her having to push him for it. She continued being cold towards him during the entire time they practised and it drove him nuts. Or maybe it turned him on because he couldn't figure her out and some of the intimate moves were quite imaginative. He was glad that she let him off the hook at 4 pm. He almost darted up the stairs and went to take a cold shower.

Aracely continued working on some ideas that she had going through her head when Banks showed up again at the door. "What do you want?" she asked as she looked at his reflection in the mirror.

Banks shrugged. "Just wondering what your plans were for the night since you made Mr. Sheppard go out."

"Same thing I always do. Work on the routine and ice my shoulder," she replied, working through a set of steps that worked a straight line across the floor.

"Maybe you could call some of your friends and have fun?" Banks suggested. "Let your hair down?"

"Haha - no. I don't have any friends like _that_. Not since I was competing on the circuit. I'm content to staying home," she said.

The man shrugged. "Okay, so if you don't have any friends, who's this Aiden Ford that's currently upstairs being grilled by Gibbs?"

"Oh what's he doing here?" she whined. "He's one of the other dancers on the show..."

"He says he's your friend."

She looked at him as she went past him for the stairs. "There are different kinds of friends you know," she growled and ran upstairs. "What's going on?"

"Pizza and a movie time," Ford smiled. "I need it."

"What happened to your partner and why tonight?" Aracely asked, confused. There was plenty of times before he could have come over but when John was out?

"Elizabeth... I'm not really allowed to speak ill of my partner..." He sighed.

"Publicity act?"

"You know, I had so much trouble with trying to make her understand the steps for Monday, we had three weeks to do it and she's worse than any other person I danced with, inexperienced or not. She's woody, and they gave us the damn jitterbug!" Aiden cried out. "So _I_ am in need of a pizza and a movie. Take John with you if you want."

"He's out with one of his friends," she said, unsure. "I'm not really feeling like going out, what with everything going on."

"That's exactly why you should come with me."

"I don't know..."

"Fine, then I'm staying here, we'll order in."

Aracely rolled her head and looked over at Gibbs, who was still looking at Aiden suspiciously. "Not allowed to have food delivered."

"Ace... come on, you can't let fear control you like this, go upstairs, take a shower and go out with me."

"_I'm_ not. I been wanting Chinese like fuck for the last week but I can't get it! And I can't go anywhere without one of the Tweedles here with me."

"Banks can come with," Gibbs spoke up. "He seems to like you."

"No. You can come with us then. Banks is getting under my skin," she snapped, glaring at the man in question as he looked at them innocently.

"Hey, I was just pointing out what I saw," he defended himself.

"Fine, that's settled then." Gibbs agreed.

* * *

><p>"So why here?" Rodney asked as they were at the Beach restaurant near John's house.<p>

"Great steak, great sauce." John grinned and took a piece of bread and smeared herbal butter all over it. "Great alcohol."

"Did you have to bring those goons with you? They are freaking me out!"

"They're hired by Hammond, so yeah." John sighed as he took a swig of his beer. "So, you want more Nick then, are you insane?"

Rodney shrugged as an answer. "Since I'll be taking over most of your duties, you have more time to play him, so yeah. I want more Nick. The fans love him."

"We'll see," John replied. "Once I'm done editing Dave out of the scripts left this season, I want you to start thinking about what you want to see next season, so I can gather the writers and we can start spinning."

"I thought we were out to celebrate your new found freedom, and not talk shop."

"I can't see why we can't do both."

"Well now that you are single - are you going to try to ask that girl out?" Rodney asked, munching happily on his bread stick.

"Why should I? Don't get me wrong, Ace is amazing and extremely beautiful but why should I ask her out? At this point I'm not interested in dating _anyone_, Nancy's betrayal still hurts."

"She's not Nancy."

"I know she's not Nancy, sheez Rodney, I'm not _ready_ yet and I'm not sure when I will ever be and why do you want me to ask her out on a date anyway?"

"Dude, have you seen yourself dancing with her?"

"No, I haven't."

"Then have you at least listened to what everyone's been saying after you danced?"

"No."

"You are an idiot."

John munched on his bread and shrugged. "No, I just don't like people talking about me or seeing myself on TV."

"Yeah well, you chose the wrong occupation my friend."

"Yeah, maybe you're right. I might just quit it all and become a reclusive writer." He countered and took another sip of his beer.

"The hell you are!"

"Then what, Rodney?"

"When was the last time you have truly enjoyed yourself?"

"This morning actually."

"Was that for you or for her?"

"Stop shrinking me."

"Just answer the damn question. Was it for you or for her - or because of her...?"

"I'm still a guy. Who doesn't like seeing a woman dance the way she does?"

Rodney raised an eyebrow. "There is a difference between watching a person dance and dancing _with_ them. What are you working on right now?"

"The cha cha cha, she wants me to do something and I don't think I want to go through with it." John cringed. "Although sliding across the room on socks is fun, doing it in your shorts is not."

"Yeah, especially if your junk accidentally peeks out when it wakes up for her," the man grinned.

"You want the truth?" John asked after a moment of silence as he finished eating his piece of bread and sighed.

McKay nodded as he had his mouth full.

"I like her a little too much for being just friends, however, I don't know if that's because of me, you know, love... or because of the things that are going on - lust." John sighed. "I'm so afraid that something might happen to her, and I'm not even worried about myself. Not even when the pictures showed up of me sleeping in my own living room."

"Maybe you two just need to sleep together to figure that out. Easy way to realize if it _could_ be or grow into something more or just chalk it up to physical lust."

"You know me better than that, Rodney. I don't do one night stands."

"Exactly. That's why now that you are single and finally growing a set of balls for yourself, you need to do something you wouldn't do before. Just - sometimes thinking less is better."

"Nope, not going to do it. I don't want to find out that it's lust and end up hurting her feelings."

"How do you know she's not just as conflicted? Have you tried _talking_ with her about these rumors? I mean the rumors come from_somewhere_ because there has to be at least a _little_ bit of truth in them."

"I don't know, Rodney."

"When you go back later, talk to her. What's the worst she could say? No? At least then you'll know that it won't go anywhere past friendship. Keep no secrets...you saw where that got you with that..."

"I wasn't keeping the secrets and Ace and I aren't in a relationship."

"No, I'm not referring to Nancy. I'm talking about that asshole brother of yours. You're in a relationship with that chick. It's called friendship. But you clearly would like more. I met her that one time and I could see how much she influenced you in the past month. It's not all that bad. I kinda like it."

"I didn't hide any secrets when it came to Dave either, just twisted the truth a little. I was actually thinking about visiting him while he's still in jail, waiting to be arraigned."

Rodney looked up at him with wide eyes. "You do that and you're asking for trouble. Just get this trial over with whenever it starts and wipe your hands of him."

"He needs help, Rodney. Not prison."

"No. He needs to be behind bars. He's been beating on you for as long as I've known you! No. If you want to continue to protect that monster, you won't get all the support of the people that truly care for you much longer."

John finished his beer and signalled the waiter for another round and placed their orders at the same time. "Fine, whatever. If that's what people do these days, abandon family, then so be it."

"No. He's not your family. I'm your family! Teyla is your family! The entire cast considers you family and you! _You_ are the one abandoning your family for an abuser!" Rodney cried out. "He never did a thing for you and you continue to bend over backwards and take it up the ass because he's what? Your brother? That's just a word. What is the true definition of family? Hm John? Tell me that. If you want to continue, then by all means. I'll tell Hammond that we won't be working Nick into the story line anymore first thing in the morning - considering the actor playing him is looking to get himself _killed_."

"Fine," John nodded. "I don't even like Nick."

"Fine," his friend nodded and threw his napkin on the table. "Thanks for such a great night out _friend_. I'm going home to write your eulogy. Good luck with whatever you do."

"Rodney, please don't go," John said softly.

He looked at John with tears clouding his eyes. "I'm sorry but if you are going to go down that road, I don't want to be there to watch it. I can't. You have no idea how happy I was that you were finally going to be free of him but you're just like every other victim, crawling back for more. There is only so much the rest of us can do for you."

"That's what people do when they're scared, don't they? Go back to what's familiar? I said I was thinking about it, not acting on it, but damnit Rodney, I'd rather have him beat me shitless than having to deal with the great unknown that's this stalker issue."

"The fact you're thinking about it scares the hell out of me. And how do you know that he doesn't have something to do with that? I wouldn't put it past him, even while he's in jail. He's always kept scary company."

"Sorry to interrupt, sirs..."

John looked up to see Callen and Hanna stand behind them. "Great Rodney..." John wiped his eyes dry with his sleeve. "You woke them up."

"What kind of scary company was Dave Sheppard involved with?"

Rodney shrugged. "I don't know. Big dudes. Like you," he waved a hand at Hanna. "Except they had lots of tattoos they tried to cover with their fancy Armani suits."

"Interesting," Callen said. "Why didn't we hear about this before?"

"Because boy genius here likes to torture himself." Rodney spat.

"I didn't know, okay? Or maybe I didn't want to know. I completely forgot, I'm sorry." John shot at Rodney.

"If you two wish to continue with dinner or go back, it's up to you," Hanna replied as he looked at the two while he began to send the office the information.

"We're fine." John said as he took a swig of his beer. "We always fight because I'm stupid."

They stayed out until eleven or something and then Rodney went home, leaving John alone in the bar with Callen and Hanna. He was drunk as hell, and didn't particularly care, and because he wasn't going to be driving, the bartender didn't cut him off either. Which was good.

He knew Rodney was right about Dave. And maybe even a little about Ace, but mostly about Dave. He needed to forget about Dave, pretend he was dead maybe, but then that would mean that John would be all alone. Not that he even cared about it all, his real family were the friends he made. Rodney was right about that. Maybe John was just trying to ruin himself because he never got the chance to be free from anything and that was maybe even more scarier than the stalker situation.

"Alright man. I think it's time to get you back. Bumblebee is going to have our ass for letting you get this drunk," Callen said pulling John away from the bar while Sam threw enough money on the counter to cover the tab. "You are going to be in for it tomorrow."

"Funny how you seem to be afraid of Ace," John chuckled as he got pulled along. "She's not your boss, Hammond is."

"You clearly haven't met Kensi. Any woman that gets pissed is truly frightening. Throw in defense training and you'll be running with your hands over your - you get the idea."

He shrugged. "It's her own fault, she told me to go out for a guy's night out."

"I don't think she expected you to get knocked off your ass like this though. Let's get you some coffee for the trip back and hopefully she won't be able to tell."

John sighed happily. "She _is_ pretty, isn't she? Like... the perfect woman if she just loosens up a little..."

Sam and Callen exchanged a look at each other. "Uh - sure...if you're into someone who isn't afraid of fighting back."

* * *

><p>"So Gibbs, are you going to let us eat at the pizzeria?" Ace asked as the group walked up the street. "I don't think the pizza guy that I been getting pies at for ten years is trying to kill me."<p>

"Yep, that's fine." Gibbs replied.

"Oh, I haven't been there in _ages_," Aiden smiled widely. "They have the best Calzone ever."

"Ooh...but so much cheese...I don't know," she sighed. "Prolly stick with a white pie."

"Indulge, Ace, it's fine to indulge every once in a while. Besides, _you_ get to dance off the calories. I, will not be so lucky with my wooden stick as a partner."

She rolled her eyes. "Do you know how much I've been indulging? I've eaten more steak in the past month than I have in my whole life I think."

"Quality meat?" He smiled widely.

"Jackson's butcher," she said innocently.

"Oh, the good stuff!"

"You can tell a lot about a man from the steaks he prefers." Gibbs said.

Aracely looked over at the older man. "So what does that say about Shep and this idiot here?" she asked, thumbing at Ford.

"Ford's too young." The man replied. "But for Sheppard? He wants a home... he probably wasn't loved by his family and he wants a loving home."

Araceley thought about it as Aiden protested the age crack. "And me?" she looked at him, knowing she pointed out the butcher shop to begin with.

"Well, have you been to that butcher before you met Sheppard?"

"Not for a couple years, but yeah," she answered.

"Were you in a relationship the last time you went there?"

Ford looked at Aracely and took a sly sidestep away. "And if I was?" She so did not want to think about Grodin. She fought hard to forget and get over him.

"You were ready to settle down with this person, weren't you? Ready to make a home," Gibbs replied.

"Not after I caught him with Aiden's partner at the time," she growled.

"Well that just means he wasn't ready. But you stopped eating red meat around that time, didn't you? It was probably all chicken and fish from then on."

Aiden snorted. "Not even. Practically went vegan on us and dropped out of the circuit for like two years."

"Shut up," she glared.

"Well good news then, Miss Morales, you're ready to start dating again."

"He's not interested even if I was. With this stalker issue and then the show and tabloids...its not right. Oh and let's not forget that he just literally got divorced."

"I didn't say you'd have to date _him_," Gibbs chuckled.

Aracley shook her head. "You more than implied it."

"I'm sure Banks told you already what he sees."

She grumbled something about the babysitters keeping to themselves as they reached the pizzeria. Walking in, she breathed in deeply at the aromas and sighed.

"Oh this smells good, doesn't it Ace? Still not changing your mind about having a Calzone? Hot and cheesy?" Aiden laughed as the waiter brought them to a table. Aiden was glad that Gibbs stayed behind.

"I'll just steal some of yours," she said, stickinh her tongue out at him. "Can I get a diet coke please?" she asked the waitress.

"Of course, what will it be for you, sir?" the waitress asked Aiden.

"Normal coke please."

"Risky!" Ace teased.

"As much as I want to get drunk, I'm afraid that I'll be nothing tomorrow and will make Elizabeth fall on the floor. Hard. So yeah, sober is the way to go." He grinned.

"It'll just make it easier for John and I to clean the floor of you next week," she teased.

"Oh I have no doubt about that, you two are amazing together. What did they give you this week? Not the Rumba right? That would be cruel."

"Why would that be cruel other than because you suck at it? No, we got the ChaCha which is going to be _fun_ if I can talk John into the idea I have for the routine."

"Knowing you it's probably something that will force him out of his hiding spot," Aiden chuckled.

Aracely looked off thoughtfully. "And satisfy every woman in the studio and watching on television..."

"Brilliant," he grinned. "And you?"

"I just want him to stand on his own feet for once. The man needs a set of his own. I'm trying to help him claim his own back," she shrugged.

"You're doing great with him as far as I can tell, who knows, now that he doesn't have any ties he might loosen up a little and start to enjoy himself."

She didn't say anything to that as they waited for their food. As if to distract her mind, she was tearing the cheap napkins into strips of paper.

"And you're not his mother, you're worrying about him because you don't know where he is, aren't you?"

"No...he's a grown man and can take care of himself. He also has a pair of muscles following him," she answered.

"Yeah, keep telling yourself that," Aiden snorted and took a sip of his coke. "Anyway, how are you _you_ doing? Really? How's your shoulder?"

Sighing she rubbed at it. "It's better. Gets stiff at night so I been icing it before bed and between rehearsals. I've had worse. I still beat you with a fractured foot."

"You should get a massage."

"I've had two!" she whined. "It doesn't help!"

"Laze around in bed to give it some rest?"

She looked at him and growled lowly at the idea as their orders arrived.

"Hey, I would strap you down if I had to. I know you have too much energy and that you get jittery when you're not moving but that shoulder needs to rest."

"Bah!" she waved him off as she pulled at her pizza that was covered in gooey cheese and vegetables. As she ate it, she couldn't help but to moan. "Oh mah..." she let out with a mouthful.

Aiden blinked at her and nearly choked on his pizza. "We're in a public restaurant, behave!"

"Shut up," Aracely laughed. "First, I haven't had decent pizza in at least two years. Second - I haven't had _any_ for much longer than that. Let me be."

"You can talk to John and see if he wants to get it on?" He grinned. "Despite the - problems -, you two are almost a perfect fit."

She made a face and threw a piece of pepper from her pizza at him. "Why is everyone so hung up on us? We're just friends that got caught up in this horrible nightmare."

"Fate? Destiny?" Aiden shrugged.

"Psychos? Crazies?"

"Well yeah there's that, but do you feel something for him or not? Something more than friends?"

"I'm not talking about that with you anymore. I wouldn't put it past you to try to set something up to make sure something happens regardless."

"I know the guy is fresh out of wedding jail, but one night stands can be awesome."

"Yeah, you would know about that. Aiden, seriously. I can't do one night stands even if I wanted to."

"Why not? It's good for the soul!"

Aracely glared. "Because if I do go to bed with someone I want it to be someone that I can be _with_ for long term. I was never one for flings. It just doesn't feel right to me. So if he isn't interested in anything more, then all that I will end up being is hurt and risk losing a friend. Sorry, but no."

"Ah! So you do feel more for him than you're willing to admit! You should talk to him about it, it never hurts to talk about it."

"You're an idiot. Just finish eating because I think Gibbs is getting restless outside there," she said, nodding towards the front window where he was trying to talk a couple photogs away from trying to get inside the restaurant. "This is getting ridiculous. $100 says that tomorrow's headlines show I'm cheating on John with you."

Aiden laughed. "Alright, but I'm saying that the headlines will say that John's actually gay as he went out with his friend."

"Or both...Geez, where is Brad and Angelina when you need them around?" she grinned.

"Adopting another kid from a third world country, far too busy to show their faces in LA." He snorted.

"Britney doing some crazy stunt? Lindsay with her girlfriend? A supermodel attacking people with cell phones?"

"Nope, she's back on the rails. Ah... no they broke up and that is last week's news. Sorry babe, you and John are hot."

She stared at Aiden for a moment and sighed. "What am I going to do? Why did I even take this job?"

"Because you missed all of us. You just can't help it that people seem to adore John and it's rubbing off on you because you've partnered up with him."

"I didn't ask for him! Though if I had the option, I might have. Or that Jackson fellow. He's cute too..."

Aiden nodded. "Janet is completely smitten by him, but in all honestly? John is a far better mover than Jackson is, although Jackson is more open, personality wise. It must be that child actor competitiveness or something that has stuck around."

"You know, I actually think John has what it takes to take it to the end, but I need him to actually enjoy it and realize that he is_good_. He listened to his brother for far too long and with that issue looming overhead, it's hard to break his thoughts of it and focus. Shit - today I was nearly a bitch to him in the studio after lunch. I don't know but, I think I was trying to put up some kind of wall between us considering the borderline raunchiness of some of the moves no matter how traditional they may be. I just hope they don't try throwing the Lambada at us _and_ a rumba. His fragile mind might break." _And I might not be able to keep that distance_, she thought to herself.

"Was he better when you were acting like an almost bitch?"

"I don't know. We'll see tomorrow how it turns out. We've also been stuck living together until the stalker drama is over simply because its easier and I have the accommodations to help out the body guards but its just weird having him around all the time like that."

"You should definitely talk to him about your feelings. Yes, I know that it could ruin your friendship, but it could also turn into something unexpected. I don't know John like you do, and I only know about his brother what the tabloids say, but it could be that he's trying to protect you from him."

She shrugged. "I'll think about it. Do you mind if we just grabbed a video and took it back to the house? I really am not feeling being out and about right now."

"Sure thing," Aiden nodded and signalled the waiter for the check which he paid. "I took you out, I'm paying." he said after seeing Aracely look at him.

"Fine, but I get to choose the movie."

"Deal."


	10. Chapter 10

After the movie and Aiden left, Aracely retired to her room for the night while Gibbs sat down in the living room reading various newspapers as he waited for the other group to return. She took a long shower before grabbing her heating pad and wrapped her shoulder before crawling between the covers and quickly fell asleep.

At some point in the night, she rolled over to find John standing in her bedroom doorway. Sitting up, she ignored her protesting shoulder as she started to question what or if something was wrong when he was at her side in a blink. "John?" she asked softly, her sleep filled eyes adjusting to the darkness.

His hands reached up to brush the lock of hair from her face, tucking it behind her ear. He didn't answer but stared into her eyes, questioning her without words. She couldn't help but to wonder what he was looking for. Opening her mouth to ask he leaned in and covered it with his own, capturing her lips. His tongue darted out to trace her mouth before seeking entrance. Aracely couldn't help but be surprised by the actions - where he became suddenly so forward and brave in his actions. She let out a sigh as her hand wrapped around the back of his neck, fingers slipping up into his hair that she absolutely loved.

His kisses began to travel across her jaw and down her neck. His hand from the bed to her thigh, sliding up the side of her body. It'd been so long since she felt her skin feel so alive and craving a man's touch. "John..." she sighed, rolled her head, granting him more access to her neck where he took every advantage to taste the skin there.

He pulled back for a moment and stared into her eyes as he pulled his shirt off, too lazy or impatient to deal with the buttons. It didn't matter. She was pleased with what it revealed and she could feel her center grow damp with desire. John leaned in to kiss her again, gently pushing her back in her bed as he repositioned himself over her before he slowly moved lower over her body, covering her with kisses, licks, and nips. He pulled the bedspread that covered her down with him then turned back to her body. She wore a simple camisole tshirt to bed, the swell of her breasts poking through the neckline and soft shorts that exposed long, toned legs that went on for miles.

John started brushing his fingers over her ankles in slow circles until he was kneeling between her legs that she parted for him, her breathing having grown heavy as she watched his every move with dark, lust-filled eyes. When he reached the hem of the shorts, his eyes flickered up to her, seeking permission. Aracely nodded very slightly, but enough that he got the message as he began to pull them down and discarding them somewhere behind him.

One layer closer to the prize, his hands brushed and massaged her thighs slowly before he went there, but even as she couldn't find the strength to say it, her body just screamed at him for the attention so much that she began to gnaw on her own figure when he finally starting paying attention to where she needed. His finger brushed over the panties, the dampness soaking through and meeting his skin made him smile. John looked up at her as she struggled with remaining still for him and he knew that she was going above and beyond her normal limitations, her back arching slightly and more whenever he rubbed over the thin fabric.

Pulling it to the side, he was able to actually touch her. Her womanly fragrance floating up to him that had his blood rushing through his body and setting in his cock that strained painfully against his pants. Still, he wanted her to enjoy herself first. His finger traced the inside of her folds, making her sigh blissfully which only made it harder for him. Leaning over his tongue flicked against the moistness that covered the skin there before going exploring.

Aracely laid there, closing her eyes and thanking god for sending her such a man with the soul of an angel for all the work he's done and troubles he survived. The moan she let out was deep and long, that had her lost in the sensations that ebbed and flowed over and under her skin. She never wanted it to end...

BANG!

With a start, Aracely jumped, sitting up straight in the bed, the blankets fisted at her sides as she looked around. She could feel her panties and shorts soaked through, possibly even to the sheets as she found herself alone in the room. "What the fuck..." she complained to herself as she heard another bang - someone knocking into the wall it seemed outside the door and whispers of men trying to coax someone into his room. It had all been a dream and she wanted to escape back into it like nothing else in the world. She knew sleep was not going to return so easily after that, especially in bed.

Getting out she grabbed her robe and went to her dresser to pull out a change of underwear and shorts before going to clean herself up and find out what all the commotion was. When she opened the door to her bedroom, she noticed Callen and Hanna standing over John who fell to the floor and had his head against the wall, seemingly asleep.

"What happened? You're just bringing him back now?" she asked, turning to look at the clock. Gibbs was watching from the stairs and only shook his head.

* * *

><p>"You know you're going to be a french fry if you stay out in the sun too long."<p>

"First day of summer, it's good to burn the winter off your skin," John countered, rolling over on his beach towel and face-planted himself in the sand. Spitting the sand out of his mouth, he sat up and looked at Aracely. She looked absolutely gorgeous, yet slightly frustrated as the baby was late and she wanted it out.

"Yeah, but I doubt your makeup department will love you for being black as toast when you start shooting again."

He got to his feet and kissed her tenderly. "You are so beautiful."

"I feel fat." She pouted and started to walk towards the sea. "I'm going for a little swim, to see if the baby wants to get out. It's a Sheppard alright, as stubborn as you are!"

John watched her walk into the ocean and sighed happily. Everything was just perfect in his life. Aracely had moved in with him about a year ago and they had hired construction workers to build an add to the house so it could be her dance studio, and during the first trimester of her pregnancy, she kept working on _Toe The Line_, taking her dance partner home and practise. John himself had given up on writing for _Masterminds_ to fully dedicate himself to playing Nick, and still managed in his spare time to do other little gigs like he used to.

His train of thought got interrupted by an agonizing scream and he was just in time to catch a glimpse of a huge wave swallowing up Ace. He stood there, nailed into the sand for a while in shock. She wasn't resurfacing. As if he was in a daze, he made his way over to the water, trying to find her but he couldn't.

She was gone.

John woke up on the floor. His head was pounding, probably because of the impending hangover of doom, and he felt so empty and sad from the inside. His dream had turned into a nightmare. Because it was true; even if he'd be happy, fate would take his happiness away, just like that.

Knowing that he wasn't going to be able to go back to sleep despite his head wanting him to go back to bed, he took a shower, got dressed in some clean clothes and made his way downstairs.

"What are you doing up? It's 3 am." Ronon remarked as he looked up from the monitors in the kitchen. "You should be sleeping the alcohol out of your system."

"Nightmare took care of that, thanks." John answered and started to make a sandwich.

"Well, you're not the only one who's awake. Ms. Morales is in her studio."

He sighed and nodded. "I'll go talk to her, she needs her sleep more than I do."

Downstairs, Aracely stretched her shoulder out some more as she paced the floor with the assigned music playing on repeat. Sleep was impossible, even on the couch. Her body was still too alive for it.

"You should be in bed," John said as he was leaning against the door post. He had been observing her for a while and something was obviously bugging her.

She avoided looking at him when she answered as she began on another set of steps she was considering. "And you should have come back relatively sober," she pointed out.

"Oh don't worry, I'm sober."

"Considering what I saw, I doubt you can sober up _that_ fast," she snorted, kicking a sweat towel off the floor.

"Well, nightmares are quite the cure when you're drunk." He shrugged.

"Huh," she replied, trying to not think about her dream that felt so real. Aracely caught his reflection in the mirror and looked away. "Shouldn't you be trying to get some sleep or whatever?"

"I can't, and I'm not going to listen to you anymore if you tell me to go out on a guys' night out. It sucked."

"Okay," was all she said as she stared down at her feet and walked in circles feeling lost. "Do what you want."

"I'm just wondering why you're not sleeping, because of your shoulder and all."

Her head snapped up and looked at him. "Just - couldn't. I don't want to talk about it..." she stammered, her face flush and her eyes large with confusion and anticipation.

"Alright, I'll start. My nightmare started in the most perfect dream. It had you in it actually." He said casually and sat down against the wall.

"And what? Did I turn out to be the freak stalker?" she grumbled as she tried through another set of steps.

"Nah, it was set in the future. After all this." John shrugged and then blushed. "You were annoyed with the uhm... baby."

Aracely stopped and turned at him like he just sprouted rainbow tendrils from his face. "The what?"

"Yeah... I know..." he sighed. "It's ridiculous but I need to talk to you about this because I know that if I don't, it will hurt our friendship later."

"I don't know. I don't know what to say," she laughed nervously. _A baby? What the hell kind of dream was he having?_ she wondered.

"Yeah well, maybe it's because of the talks I had with Rodney last night, I don't know..." John waved his hand around. "But what about you? I told you a bit of the reason why I'm awake and sober and am slightly embarrassed, now tell me a little about your dream."

She debated about how or if to say something. "I don't know. It - I had a visitor in my room while I was sleeping," Aracely said as she smiled dreamily, as if she was back in the fantasy.

"The stalker?"

"Far from it," she said, glancing at him quickly. "Much more welcoming."

"I can tell from the look on your face," he chuckled. "Was it fun?"

Aracely looked at him and sighed. "More than it should have been, which makes it more difficult to get over."

"Well, I doubt that your visitor got swallowed up by a wave and never resurfaced," he muttered and hugged his knees to his chest. Remembering the pain and it made him feel sick and sad all over again.

She swallowed hard as she looked at him. If they dreamed of each other... No, she didn't want to go there, did she? She tried to think of how to broach the subject, it needed to be done if either of them were going to know anything, but she just didn't know how.

"It's all Rodney's fault, you know... he kept asking the right questions to which I didn't have or want to answer and it made me start thinking about things... and now with that dream... I don't know. I'm just afraid."

Sounded like Banks and Aiden with her. Aracely went over and sat beside him. "What happened? How did it start perfectly like you said? Ignoring the wave part."

"I realized I was truly happy..." he said after a long time looking at his hands.

"And what do you think you need to do to get that feeling again?"

"Nothing, because I realized that whenever I'm happy, or content, something happens and I lose just about everything I care for. I'm thankful it was Rodney I was talking to yesterday, but any other person would have believed all the things I said yesterday just to create a distance from everything."

"Well...isn't being hurt the risk you run when you give yourself to someone?" she asked, playing with her nails. Poetic considering she had avoided relationships the past years.

"Sure, but I don't want anyone else getting hurt in the process."

"It happens," Aracely commented. She was quiet for awhile before taking a deep breath and jumped into the fire. "The visitor in my dream...it was you..." Her eyes stayed focused on her hands, seeing the chipped nail polish and worked on getting the rest off a nail.

John didn't know what to say about that, only that she was crazy, but that would be his defensive mechanism kicking in. "Are you sure it was me and not Tom Cruise?"

She snorted and nodded. "Uh yeah, I am sure. Tom Cruise is a bit too crazy for my taste."

"The way you felt for me in your dream, does that translate back to reality?"

"I think - it's my feelings in reality that translated into the dream," she said slowly, looking away from him as her face reddened unnaturally for her.

He suspected as much, and he felt the same. "I've been attracted to you, Ace. It's like you have this magnetic pull and you keep pulling me in and I've been fighting it," he said after a while, letting her words sink in completely. "I've been fighting it because well, I was technically still married to Nancy and I keep my word even if she didn't. And also, I don't want you to get hurt. I'm screwed up. Rodney said as much when I told him something he didn't really like. At all."

"I have a newsflash for you John," Aracely replied turning to look at him finally. "We're _all_ screwed up in some way. The biggest question we need to deal with now I think, is where do we go from here?" Even as she asked the question, she could feel her heart pounding in her chest, hoping to hell that he wasn't going to push her away like he did just about everything else when he didn't want to deal with it.

John laughed. "We're going to be in so much trouble."

"Because of the tabloids being true before anything ever happened?" she teased.

He finally looked at her and sighed. "Oh, what the hell..." he muttered and kissed her softly on the lips.

She let out a sigh of something, relief or pleasure, she wasn't sure herself. She returned his kisses with a slight moan as it was so much better than what she experienced in the dream. Her hand crept from her lap to rest on his chest where her fingers gripped his shirt loosely, almost as if to try to keep him from pulling and running away from her.

His hands buried themselves in her hair, getting tangled up in the messiness of it, almost as if he wanted to try to pull her inside of him. When they eventually had to break off the kiss to get some air, he chuckled. "Ace? Do I have my own set of balls now?"

"I think so, yeah," she grinned, licking her lips to try to taste more of him. "I think this may help make our routine easier considering some - positions - but that is only a plus. Keep this between us? For now? I don't want to share you with the public."

John nodded. "I don't think it's a good idea to share this with the public, things could get crazier and I've got enough of that in my life right now."

"Good. You feeling up to working yet?" she asked, her eyes glancing over his lips wanting another kiss from them. "I think I'm more awake than before now."

"It's what? 4 am?" he chuckled and softly kissed her again. "I need some coffee and some breakfast first."

"Sounds like a plan. I want french toast," she grinned as she jumped up and reached for his hand.

"Fried eggs with ham and bacon," John nodded and took her hand while he got up. He pulled her into a hug and smiled at her. "This feels good."

"Yeah, like a load off our backs," she laughed. "Eggs and french toast...no meat..."

"I just need a greasy egg to keep the hangover from kicking in when I don't want it to," he grinned. "I'm sober, I promise! I just don't want the hangover."

Aracely rested her hands over his shoulders and looked as if she thought about it. "I have alternative ideas to keep it away," she smirked, pushing herself up to kiss him. "Come on."

He let go of her and followed her out of the studio. "Yeah but I believe that my way is safer than me sliding across the dance floor in boxers!"

"No! And its a special cocktail that works. Disgusting but works," she replied.

"I don't have a hangover yet, please let me have my greasy eggs?"

"Fine but you are _mine_ all day then," she smirked.

"You're the boss," he laughed as they made their way into the kitchen. He started to empty out the fridge with all the stuff he needed for his eggs.

She went straight for the coffee pot that someone had made. "Mmm coffee..." she sighed happily as she sat at the table. "No unwanted visitors tonight?" she asked Banks who was staring at the monitors.

Banks chuckled. "Don't try so hard, we already knew the moment you got out of the studio," he said to her.

"I figured as much but I wasn't asking like that," she replied, narrowing her eyes at him. "There is to be absolutely no talking of it either. By anyone..."

"We don't discuss private matters we hear when we're on the job, don't worry." Banks assured her. "And no, no unwanted visitors tonight. Callen and Hanna have gone home, but they're slightly worried about you being angry with them."

"Damn straight I'm pissed at them. Alcohol is the last thing a person needs right now. It messes with the head too much when I need him to be in the game."

Banks shrugged. "He seems to be remarkably sober now, don't worry, he'll be fine."

John made the toast and eggs for Ace first and then his own. "Breakfast is ready!"

"You two are up too early for my liking," Gibbs grumbled. "Banks, get us some food."

"There is plenty in here that you guys can have," Aracely commented as she started shoving hers in her mouth.

John nodded. "She bought enough food to feed an orphanage when you took her out," he chuckled and opened his laptop to see if there were reactions to his thread on the fan forum of _Masterminds_. "Holy shit." He blinked at the comments.

"What?" Gibbs questioned, as he made his way around, expecting to see another email. Grunting at seeing a website instead, he returned to planning the guys' breakfast.

"Sorry Gibbs." John apologized and started scrolling through the comments. There were a handful of negative comments, but from what he could tell, most fans really wanted Nick to fill Mike's empty shoes, if only he'd get fleshed out more. Some even gave him some ideas he wasn't going to be able to use because he read them but they were good. He took a few bites of his egg and then looked at Aracely. "You want to hear the verdict?"

"Nope. I already know what it is," she smiled over at him, canting her head to the side cheekily. "Are you going to do it?"

"If I'm going to do it, I'll have to start cutting down on writing the scripts... doing one a season instead of the bulk of them... which means Rodney would have to find new writers... which probably won't be a problem... but yeah... I said I would do it if the fans wanted me to so..."

"Awesome. Television is just getting better," she laughed. "Now I have an excuse to watch it more."

"Yeah, just warn me if you're going to watch so I can be far away." He nodded and shrugged. "You mind coming with me to Hammond today to clue him in? Rodney will be there too, you can kick his ass if you like for letting me drink so much." He started to type up an email to Hammond and Rodney that he wanted to meet with them later in the day.

She nodded. "I'm game. We need to stop off at the store too. You need new shorts."

He blinked at her, knowing exactly what she wanted. "Fine, I'll be your Tom Cruise, but I'm wearing briefs underneath them!"

"I wouldn't think of it any other way. I also need to get needles and thread to sew the fly shut as well. You won't be the only one down to skimmies."

"What do you mean?" John asked as he took a sip of his coffee.

"For the rumba. You get to be the one who is dressed," she said easily as she plotted the idea of her costume in her head. "Of course, I'll have less on for the chacha, but I'll still be significantly covered."

John cocked his head. _less on for the chacha?_ "You're not going to become more of a distraction that you already are, are you?"

Aracely shrugged. "I'll have a leo on and a large shirt if that helps," she smiled.

"I'm going to need bigger shorts."

"I think you'll be fine," she laughed, taking the rolled up newspaper on the table and smacking Banks with it. "Feeling better to get started?"

"Well, if we start now, does that mean we get to sleep in tomorrow?" He took his phone with him as he told Rodney to call him if the time was set for the meeting today and followed her back towards the studio.

***ShepFlight1:** 5 am start... I must be nuts.

***AcieMoe:** *ShepFlight1 Put the phone away and get your ass over here! chop!chop! #likeaboss

***ShepFlight1:** *is on the chopping block* *AcieMoe Yes boss! #likeasleepyhead

***BetterThanTheCar:** *ShepFlight1 *AcieMoe You woke me up! #justkidding #earlystart Taking Elizabeth to  
>the gym today.<p>

***AcieMoe:** *BetterThanTheCar Good luck!

"Alright, over here. Follow what I'm doing," Aracely ordered as she began moving her hips and sticking her leg out.

It looked and felt easy enough. "Like this?"

"Yep," she said as she stopped to watch him continue. She made her way over to him and positioned herself alongside him. "Don't stop," she said as she started the same moves herself. "See, that's perfect," she said with a grin as she pointed at the mirror.

They practised for three more hours and John was glad he could take a break when his phone rang. It was 8 am or maybe even 9 am and he wasn't surprised to have Rodney waiting on the other end of the line. John realized too late that he shouldn't have picked up the phone with the speaker on. "You sound out of breath, did I disturb during mating?"

"Rodney!"

Aracely was too busy laughing in the background to be able to continue working on the other steps that she had him watching. She laughed so hard that her face went red and she collapsed onto the floor holding her stomach.

"Yep, now you've done it, you broke my dance partner." John deadpanned.

"Oh well, it'll give you some time to get changed, get a coffee and come to your own office. Hammond is going to be here in an hour... what did you want to see us about?"

"A life change, see you in an hour." John replied and hung up. He grinned when he helped Ace up, who was still laughing. "See? Rodney can be funny."

"I wonder what he will say when he sees you do the rumba..." she grinned. "Okay, let's go shower - separately. Dress in loose clothing so that we could get some work done there if we can."

"It's just a meeting, they don't need me on set until next week," he said, following her out of the studio. "You go first, I need to see if I brought some papers with me otherwise we'll have to stop by my house first."

"Yeah, sure," she said finishing off a bottle of water without an issue. "Lets get going."

An hour later, they found themselves in John's office and John could tell that Rodney had already been moving stuff around, and had gotten rid of the oh so comfy couch. "Where's my couch?" John pouted.

"We're building Nick's apartment on the next stage, there's your couch." Rodney replied.

"Oh, good... I thought you had tossed it out... wait? Nick's apartment? I don't remember writing that."

"That couch has been with you for a very very long time. It's ugly but it's you." Rodney replied with a shrug. "No, you haven't, but I asked a writer to fix it for me in this week's shooting script," he grinned as he handed John two pages. "If you're about to do what I think you're going to do, then we'll need that scene."

Teyla almost ran in and flew her arms around John. "Why didn't you call me? I miss you asking me for things!" She then hugged Aracely carefully. "And you! You've been doing to John what we've been trying for years, I need to know your secret."

"Uhh..." Aracely uttered in confusion, patting the woman on the back uncomfortably. "What did I do?"

"He looks happy, thank you," Teyla said softly in her ear, only for her to hear.

"He did that himself," she shrugged with a smile. "I just need to make sure that your friend there doesn't break him. I need John to be able to dance next week."

"I didn't do anything," Rodney spluttered, "I only tried to talk some sense into him!"

"So, where's Hammond?" John said as he looked at the script in his hands. Whoever wrote this, was a genius.

"Oh, that is why I came here too," Teyla answered, "He's running a little late."

"Okay..." he nodded and then looked at Rodney. "It's Thursday today, when do you want to shoot this?"

"Today, after the meeting, don't worry about your bruise, the writer put that in the script as well."

John sighed and looked at Aracely. "Sorry about this."

"Its okay. I said as much, didn't I?" she grinned as she went to sit on the new futon that Rodney had put in to replace John's couch. "How long are you going to keep him from me?" she asked the pudgy man.

"Depending on him able to remember two pages of practically dialogue into a phone? An hour, maybe two... or maybe until lunch."

"So, who wrote this, Rodney?"

"Katie! She told me she felt so bad for handing you a bad script and she wanted to show that she is capable of writing something more - detailed and relevant."

"You should email her professor and tell him that she needs to pass his class." John said appreciatively as he sat down next to Ace and started to try and remember those words until Hammond would enter the office.

"I see that you've brought your baby sitters with you," Teyla mused as she looked at Aracely. "Still no idea about who's behind all of this?"

"Nope. And after the incident at his place, I have cameras and wires running all over at mine. I think the _only_ private areas are the bedrooms and bathrooms," she sighed as she let her head fall back. "I'm getting used to it though. I think I might even miss having everyone around so much when it is resolved."

"You really have a lovely house, but I can imagine it can be a little big for just yourself."

"It is but when I got it, I hadn't intended on being alone for long. I was engaged at the time," she said with a frown.

"Well I am sure that once you're done with _Toe The Line_ this season, you'll have men standing in line for you."

John looked up briefly from his papers and quickly looked back at them again, chuckling.

Aracely squished her face, avoiding looking at John. "I don't think I'm going to be interested. I'm good where I'm at now..."

"I was browsing the fan forums last night when I got home from the bar, some fan basically wanted to know if it would be doable to get Nick full time on the show," Rodney started, which made John snicker. "It was really smart, and all those answers!"

"Yeah, too bad you can't use those ideas now, can you?" John said, not looking up from his script.

"Why not?"

"Because _they_ came up with it. You can tweak the ideas, but not blatantly copy them all."

"You've read them too then?"

"I _posted_ it, Rodney." He looked up and smiled. "I was thinking about a lot of things and I decided to let them make the decision for me."

Aracely snorted as she looked at John. "Uh huh. Right. Take _all_ the credit why don't ya."

"Yeah... I might have had a little help so if it backfires, you can blame Ace," John nodded and grinned.

She stuck her tongue out at him and smacked his arm. "You loved those reviews and feedback. Admit it," she grinned as she rested her head on his shoulder innocently.

"I think that was a brilliant move," Rodney smiled. "Can't we just get rid of Mike _now_ instead of in a couple of episodes?"

"No, absolutely not. He's in the wind and it was hard enough to fix that in the scripts, and I still have to work on the season finale script, but if you do that, we'd have to come up with another arc and it'll feel rushed and stuff. I don't do rush. It needs to stay as it is. You can have more Nick next season." John overruled him and looked back at his papers.

"Shall I get you some coffee then?" Teyla smiled. "I am sure Mr. Hammond will arrive shortly."

"I've had more than enough coffee today thanks," Aracely replied. "It ain't working so much anymore so I'm considering on tracking down some Red Bull."

"Oh! I practically run on that stuff..." Rodney opened the desk drawer and tossed Aracely a can. "There you go."

"Thanks," she sighed as she popped the can open and slugged it down in one shot.

It didn't take long for Hammond to arrive and after exchanging pleasantries and small talk, John put his script on the futon and got up. "Okay, so the reason why you're here... I am fine with Rodney running the show, supervising everything and take over all of my duties as such. However, I still would like to have the right to argue certain decisions and have my own input."

"Of course, duh." Rodney rolled his eyes at him.

"I am also willing to give up my spot as head writer. I want Kate Todd to take my place. I trust her judgement and she's written a few solid episodes last season and in this one. I also want to keep the right to veto any idea that doesn't feel right."

"You are not leaving, are you John?" Hammond asked warily, not sure why the once so stubborn man who had a hard time letting go of his duties was suddenly relinquishing just about everything.

"No, in return of all of that, I am willing to take the spot as lead actor along side Jack starting with the next season, filling the space that Dave's... _departure_ left by playing Nick. Until then, I'm slowly writing him in in the scripts that I'm still fixing. It's what the network would like to see, it's what the fans would like to see. However, any major decision about Nick's life outside of being a CI should be discussed with me first."

"I can live with that," Hammond smiled widely. "How about you, Rodney?"

"Oh yes!" Rodney answered with glee.

Aracely sat quietly during the exchange, slowly working on her second can of Red Bull that she managed to get from McKay. She was happy that John was moving on and shifting into a different level of responsibility in the program. She had every confidence in him that he could pull it off.

"Good, now that we've got that out of the way..." John picked up his script and waved it around. "Memorized. Now, who did you cast as the hot chick in Nick's bed to distract him as he's having the phone conversation?"

"Well I tried talking Teyla into it first..." Rodney muttered.

"Rodney, you have a casting director who's brilliant in finding last minute replacements."

"No one worked! All the available faces we know won't work and the ones that we are positive about are busy with other projects!" he complained.

"Then you have another day to find someone," John chuckled.

Hammond had been quiet as he watched John and Aracely on the couch. She had been quiet, looking off, actually thinking about the routine that still needed to be worked on when the man spoke. "What about you Ms. Morales? Are you willing to try a little acting?"

She heard her name and looked around confused, not having paid any attention to the discussion. "Huh? What?"

"It could work... I suppose..." John nodded.

"Yes! She's exactly the type of woman Nick would go for!" Rodney said enthusiastically.

"Again - what?" Aracely asked, looking at John as he grinned at her.

"Acting, have you done it before?" John sat back down next to her on the ugly red futon.

"Just what you've seen with the cameras around when we practice and on the show..."

"Ever played 'sexy girl in bed distracting a suave conman while he's having a phone conversation'?"

She raised an eyebrow, unsure about what could end up after. "Am I going to have to be naked?"

Rodney nodded. "Yep!"

Teyla glared at him. "No."

"No," John chuckled. "Well, camera naked, you know, flesh colored panties, invisible bra thingy..."

"Yeah, yeah, I know what you mean. We wear a lot of that stuff under the costumes on the show. It's just the one scene?"

"You don't have to say anything just do things to distract John from his script enough to make it look authentic."

"What? Like kiss him or give him a lap dance?" she laughed.

"Like... you're both in bed and you're tracing his chest with your finger tips, nipping at his earlobe... just keep it PG."

"PG? And you have me implied naked in bed and you want it to stay PG? Are you sure you're not on crack?" Ace asked, looking at Rodney.

"What? John's a professional, he can handle it, it's not like he's never acted with hot chicks before."

Aracely looked at John and raised an eyebrow, silently questioning if they should risk something like that after everything that happened that morning.

"Well, you know... it would be something great for _Toe The Line_ as well, they love to show things from behind the scenes. We could even stage this conversation to make sure that it's just a last minute resort thing." Rodney shrugged. "Oh come on, you're teaching John to dance - I already feel sorry for you if you have to teach him how to move his hips - let him show you a little of his world. And don't worry, you won't have to be in bed with him for too long, the script is easy enough for him to do it in one or two takes."

"And throw some water in the oil fire about the dating rumors," she added. "And he moves his hips better than I could imagine."

"I think it would be fine," John said. "The rumors are already there anyway, who cares if they'd think that something is truly happening? Oh don't look so shocked Rodney. People thinking that Ace and I are an item are the least of my worries right now!"

"The boy learned how to prioritize, it's a miracle!" Hammond chuckled.

"I'll do it," Aracely said eventually. "It might help you get to be more comfortable with me being in less for whenever we get to the rumba!" she grinned, accentuating the pronunciation on the rumba.

"Dancing is something else than acting, especially because you will be covered up anyway by the covers for the most part," John chuckled. "You're going to be fine."

"And when I'm not stuck under the covers?" she teased. "Will you be able to handle it?"

John stuck his tongue out to her. "Alright Rodney, get your people together."

Two hours later, everyone was on set to film the one way scenes with Jack standing off camera to provide the prompting that would be later filmed from the office. John had been in his boxers and pacing as he looked at the script again when she walked in, wearing a black laced bra and nude colored panties. "Maybe I should see if I can borrow this for the dance," she joked as she twirled around.

"You do know that wardrobe has robes for you to wear if you're not shooting, right?" John swallowed hard.

"Yeah, but if I'm getting right into bed with you, what's the point?" she winked as she crawled up on the bed and patted the area next to her. "Unless I make you nervous..."

Ace looked like a cat in heat the way she looked at him and he half expected her to start purring. He then remembered there was a camera crew for _Toe The Line_ present too and rolled his eyes at her.

"Trust me they will edit out anything that I'm not covered up for. Family show after all," she grinned. "Keeping it as minimal as possible so that they can't use too much."

"Alright, one rehearsal before we shoot this! John get comfortable on the bed," Gerald Jackson, the director of this episode said. "Now, I gave you both some directions earlier and I'm sorry for this being a little hectic and what not but the new boss is relentless."

"I heard that!" Rodney's voice sounded.

The crew around on set was minimal; just the necessary people, which was good. John put his script down and crawled onto the bed and covered the both of them up, her a bit more than him, so that only her back would truly show on camera. "Hi," He smiled as he pulled her closer to him, and tried to ignore the tingling sensations their contact sent through his body.

"Hello," she whispered as she tucked her face into him as Jackson recommended, so that her identity doesn't show until he's up and mid conversation. "You got chicken skin," she giggled. "I wonder why so."

John poked her in the side and laughed. "Shut up."

"Alright, rehearsal! Action! Phone rings!" Unknown to both actors, Gerald had actually started taping just to see how this would go.

Ace tried to keep a straight face as John worked to palm around for the phone on the end table before sitting up and talking into it. When he appeared to be more _awake_ she shifted and grinned slyly as she slowly made her way up behind his back before draping her arms over his shoulders and licked at his earlobe.

"I took a beating last night, that's all," John's voice sounded an octave higher than it was supposed to and glared at Ace. "No, Agent Matthews? there's nothing wrong... No, I don't know where Mike is."

Aracely ran her hands lightly over his arms before bringing them down his sides and around his waist to trace along his boxers' waistline. She also shifted to his other ear as he tried to get her to stop by moving the phone to where she was playing and nibbled on the earlobe there, her warm breath flowing down over his neck.

"No, I think it's a wild rabbit gnawing on the lines, I don't know..." John kept following her around with his eyes and occasionally swatted her hands away. "I don't care where Mike is. In all honesty, he was … ah!" She pressed herself against his back, biting down on his shoulder as her eyes looked up at him innocently.

"Hold on..." John turned around to face her and put his finger on her lips as he looked her in the eye. "I'm on the phone."

"I know..." she smiled a smile that clearly told him she was having fun and wasn't about to stop - as the character and a woman. She wrapped her arms around him again and pulled herself around to sit on his lap, the sheets wrapped around her waist moving with her to keep her bottom covered. It had been completely off script but Gerald only smiled as he let it go on.

"I honestly don't know why you had Mike as a CI in the first place, we all know that he did some pretty bad stuff... oh, I'm the one who's talking? I'm a straighter guy than he is! Straight, as in better, as in reformed... well not entirely but I can be a good boy."

Aracely worked on his neck, nipping along his jaw, and she could feel his body reacting to her uncontrollably and made her roll her hips on his last couple words of the line he just said.

He looked at her again. "Stop it."

Taking the phone from him, she hit the power button and threw it across the bedroom set and repositioned herself on his lap. "Make me."

John put his hands around her waist and flipped them over, he was sitting on top of her on his knees, keeping her arms apart, and it was hard not to do anything _stupid_. "You're going to get me in a lot of trouble one of these days," he said roughly before leaning in and kissing her neck and pressing himself over her body that had her stretching out with an aroused smile.

"And CUT!"

John got off her and grinned. "That was great." He managed to say evenly. "What do you mean cut? That was a rehearsal?" He pulled the covers half over him now that he felt what the hell had been going on in his groin area. Being focused on his lines instead of controlling that monster down below had been more of a priority.

"I was filming it to see if there might be something we can use later. The entire shot was flawless. Great job you two! Take a break and we'll get started in the office scene shortly," Gerard said, nodding over at Hammond silently.

"You might want to take a few minutes before you walk off anywhere," she whispered, patting John on his back.

He rested against the headboard of the bed and grinned at Ace as he tried to will himself to calm down. "Did you have fun?"

"Very," she grinned, waggling her eyebrows. "You already know I read too many romance novels. I figured I would have some fun to be a part of one - sort of. Not that I'm any good."

"You were brilliant, usually Gerald is a pain when it comes to ad-libbing, he doesn't like it very much."

"I didn't say anything that wasn't in the script," she shrugged as she sat up and stretched.

"Yeah well, I did. Get dressed."

"Why? You don't like what you see...or can't see?" she asked, looking down at the black lacey bra.

"People are drooling," he chuckled and reached for a shirt that was on the floor before tossing it in her face.

She smirked as she wrapped herself up in it. "Let them drool. Not like they have a chance anyway."

John had managed to reduce the swelling in his groin area and gently patted her on the head. "Come on, I'll walk you back to the costumes so you can get dressed again and I'll... have to get into something else."

"Go to the bathroom," she said simply, winking at him.

"I can't do that here!" He laughed as he helped her off the bed. "Nutty girl."

"It was a thought. You're going to be uncomfortable for awhile you know."

"Yes, I know." John nodded. "Which is great because the office scene requires a Nick who's not comfortable." He made his way over to the clothes that were laying out for him and sighed. Nick seriously had to get a better sense of clothes other than tight fitting jeans and a shirt if he wasn't working a con.

She nodded in response as she stepped behind the curtain to change into her regular clothes that she came in. When she came out, she frowned at the outfit. "That - kinda sucks."

John shrugged. "I didn't feel like getting dressed either the morning after Dave hit me in the face."

"No. You need something better. I mean, look at the modern style of the character's apartment. He'd wear more suits or at least better fitting jeans and more stylish button downs." She went to thumb through the racks and found something that was better but similar to what he had on. "Try these. You won't look like something that was coughed up by a rat then. I mean, _Nick_ just finished getting laid. He needs to have that masculine confidence and those jeans scream gay to me."

He got out of the pants and pulled on the pair that she handed to him. "Happy?"

She looked him over and walked around him, her eyes lingering longer on his rear. "Much," she replied and slapped his ass. "I'll go sit with Teyla if you need me."

"I won't be here much longer, I promise."

"Bah! I'm having fun getting to see you in action. Go work. We'll just stay up later to make up the time."

"After last night? I don't think so!" John countered as he bounded up the stairs towards the office set.


	11. Chapter 11

***ShepFlight1:** Went on set today! Shooting "more Nick"! *AcieMoe seemed like having a blast as well.  
>#Masterminds<br>***ShepFlight1:** A lot of changes will be happening and you'll get answers soon. #Masterminds

***AcieMoe:** *ShepFlight1 Did you deal with that 'problem' yet? #TooMuchFunAtWork

***ShepFlight1:** *AcieMoe No, I'm in bed. 5 am wake up call wasn't really what I wanted today thanks.

Aracely laughed from where she laid in her own bed as she sent a text rather than tweet. _Isn't that what the bed is for?_ she asked, clicking send.

John laughed. _Is that an invitation?_ he sent back.

She raised an eyebrow as she debated it, the dream coming back to her. _Not as long as there are babysitters around...I'm not very quiet..._

John groaned as the monster woke up again.

Quickly she sent another message right after. _Unless I'm gagged or something._

"Damn you!" He called out and wasn't surprised that his hand was already on his cock, stroking it.

_Petting yourself? That's hot!_

***ShepFlight1:** Thinking about starting a petting zoo...

***AcieMoe:** *ShepFlight1 I'd buy tickets

***ShepFlight1:** And maybe one of those fair do-hickeys that go up and down

***AcieMoe:** *ShepFlight1 What about cows? You know, for milking?

***ShepFlight1:** Up and down... up and down... it's like an excercise.  
><strong>*ShepFlight1:<strong> *AcieMoe I'd have to hire a farmer too, I was never good at milking.

_Really now? I would think that you would be great at that..._ Aracely sent him, grinning as she tried to listen out for him. _Maybe some silk sheets and that bra set from the set today? What do you think?_

John moaned as he started to stroke himself harder, tightening the grip around his cock.

***ShepFlight1:** Or you know, now that I'm single... I could set up a pole dancing school... #oogletheladies

***AcieMoe:** *ShepFlight1 Sorry, best I can do is treat you to lunch at Hooters

***ShepFlight1:** *AcieMoe *sigh*

***AcieMoe:** *ShepFlight1 Feeling better yet?

***BetterThanTheCar:** *ShepFlight1 *AcieMoe what drug are you two on? #gimme

***NotapilotJim:** If I didn't know any better, I'd think that *AcieMoe and *ShepFlight1 are having a thing  
>over twitter<p>

***AcieMoe:** *notapilotjim You wish. You're welcome to come to Hooters too. Same with  
>*BetterThanTheCar<p>

***ShepFlight1:** *notapilotjim You're welcome to stay at the petting zoo that I just bought.

***AcieMoe:** *ShepFlight1 *notapilotjim I'd buy tickets to THAT!

***ShepFlight1:** *AcieMoe *notapilotjim Yes, watching me and *notapilotjim milk some cows.

_You do know that you will literally need to go buy and set up that zoo now? Otherwise there will be MORE rumors LMAO!_ Ace sent John laughing loudly.

***ShepFlight1:** Oh, forget about the petting zoo... #exwifetookthebathroomsinktoo

John closed his eyes and thought about how Ace looked like on set today, how she was acting like a playful kitten with a very nice bite, how her tongue felt on his skin, her hands, her legs, her weight. The look in her eyes, and he finally realized she was as turned on as he was. He pushed a pillow down over his face as he came with a very loud moan, feeling relieved as he panted.

_I heard that. Making me hungry...Damn you._ Aracely sighed, shifting her legs as she tried uselessly to calm herself.

***ShepFlight1:** Neighbor complained about the noise #sorry

***AcieMoe:** *ShepFlight1 I told you to turn down the television an hour ago. #toldyaso

_You're not the only loud person... so what are you doing now? Trying to satisfuck your hunger?_

_FUCK, fy, satisfy! Damn slippery phone_

_I think autocorrect got it right..._ Aracely snorted as she gave up and opened her bedside table for her best friend over the last few years, Bob.

***ShepFlight1:** *AcieMoe Bobby asked if his wife should make you some low fat ice cream cake. #friendly #neighbor

***AcieMoe:** *ShepFlight1 They are REALLY great! If you see them, give them the okay as long as you know the fox isn't around.:

***BetterThanTheCar:** *AcieMoe *ShepFlight1 Yep. I REALLY don't want to know - well I do. Ace you better call me when you sleep off whatever high you are on!

***ShepFlight1:** *BetterThanTheCar *AcieMoe had a few too many red bulls today. #mistake1

***BetterThanTheCar:** *ShepFlight1 Ahh - yeah, nevermind. Good luck man. She'll be bouncing off the walls  
>with you for a week. #prayers<p>

***ShepFlight1:** *BetterThanTheCar I've managed to get some padding down in the studio just in case #scarybouncywoman

***AcieMoe:** *ShepFlight1 I can read what you are saying. #EvilPlans

***Teyla_Emmagan:** *AcieMoe Chamomile tea helps to relax, Rodney should never have fed you the bulls.

***AcieMoe:** *Teyla_Emmagan Thanks. I don't have any in the house but I think I have something that  
>could work. #GoodNightTwitter<p>

Aracely gave up and threw Bob to the side of the bed. He wasn't working and after that dream that had been with her all day, she knew what she wanted, needed. She slipped her robe on and opened the door quietly and peeked out. She could see Sam passed out on the couch and Callen at the monitors, working on a magazine at the same time. Thankful that the angle of the stairs hid their direct view up to hallway, she slipped into the dark hall and made her way down to John's door and snuck in, not bothering to knock.

"Aw, is Bobby being a pain?" John quietly chuckled as he saw Ace's form enter his bedroom.

"He - died," she replied. It wasn't a lie. The batteries in it were nearly dead so it didn't have its full power. "But I don't think he would have been able to do the job anyway," she whispered as she made her way from the door to him, standing in front of where he had sat on the edge of the bed, kissing him hungrily.

He put his arms around her as he answered the kiss greedily and pulled her down to the bed with him before his hand slipped between the opening of her robe and caressed her back.

Aracely let out a low moan as she moved along his jaw to his neck, biting down lightly over his shoulder as she had that afternoon. Sitting up, she pulled her robe off and let it fall to the floor as before resuming her attentions on him. She knew they were moving fast but they had nearly a month of dancing around each other.

He moved his hands to her sides, then slowly moved them upwards, cupping her breasts - her beautiful breasts. He gently squeezed them as he was on the receiving end of a kiss again. John moaned when she shifted a little, waking the monster he thought he had successfully pleased the other moment.

She was ecstatic that he had been only in his boxers when she came in so when she slipped lower, eventually find herself on her knees between his legs, she tugged and pulled his underwear down with her. Her eyes were large, and dark with desire as she watched him from the angle. She ran her hands over his legs and thighs as she returned up from discarding the shorts that were soiled by his attempt before her arrival. "Yum," she whispered as she took him in her mouth eagerly, moaning around his length.

"Oh god..." he breathed as she moaned around his cock. He looked down on her and when she looked up, he could feel his blood starting to heat up even more; she looked so incredibly sexy with his cock in her mouth.

Aracely didn't want him to climax again as she needed him so she didn't suck him as long or as hard as she would have liked. When she believed he was getting close, by the change of his breathing and his hands tightening in her hair, she let him go, with a grin. Before she could join him on the bed again, there was a quiet knock on the door before a strip of condoms were pushed underneath and footsteps walking away.

"I was positive they didn't see me," she commented as she reached behind her for their 'present'.

"I think Ronon and Murray clued them in on what happened on set today," he chuckled.

"Yeah, I think half the set expected us to start fucking each other right there," she grinned, crawling back up on top of him, kissing and suckling at his neck again. Oh how she loved the man's neck.

John flipped them both over so that he was on top, and kissed her as he gently moved his hands over her body. He squeezed her breasts as he intensified the kiss, then rubbed his thumbs over her nipples, causing her body to arch towards his as if someone was pulling an invisible thread upwards. He moved his kiss down her neck, licking the vein as he did.

She panted as she tried to stay calm and quiet for him. "You know, this isn't all that far off from what happened in that dream," she grinned. "This part here at least..."

"Oh yeah?" He started to kiss her down her torso, biting lightly on her collarbone before he moved further down. "What happens next then?"

"You keep going," she answered, thrusting her hips up against his for emphasis.

"But what if I want to stop?" He sat up and removed his hands from her body and looked down on her with a big goofy grin on his face.

"I will be sure to take it out on you in rehearsal in the morning. No breaks," she pouted, eyeing him closely.

"Ohh..." He moved futher down the bed and grinned. "Then I'd better continue..." He kissed her belly button. "Right here..." he moved his hands up and down her toned legs.

Aracely whined slightly, flashing to the dream and similar position of them "Only difference was neither us talked," she said softly. "impossible feat if you ask me - ooh..." she added, interrupted when his hand brushed over her core. "Yes..."

"Oh, I can be quiet, can you?" He grinned as he moved further down and planted a wet kiss on her pleasure mound.

"I doubt it," she said truthfully. "I meant what I said about a gag. You have a tie or something?"

"Pillow?"

"Maybe," she said pulling one closer that she could grab quickly - if she remembered.

He flicked his tongue against her moist lips and moaned as he tasted her. John never stopped moving his hands over her thighs and over part of her core as he continued lapping up her fluids, making sure that she was absolutely wet enough before he'd even make an attempt of preparing her for him.

"Oh God!" she moaned, not quite getting loud yet, but her own hyperactivity making it difficult to remain still under him. Raising her legs, she instinctively hugged him with them as if to keep him there. "Fuck..." she let out throwing her head back to the bed.

John already realized that if he really wanted to have _his_ way with her, he'd probably have to tie her down, which amused him to bits as he kissed his way up again, his hand crawling upwards along her inner thigh, replacing his mouth on her center as he kissed her tenderly on her lips.

Aracely kissed him back, wrapping her arms around him. Tasting herself on him, it made her more aggressive as she pressed herself to his hand. She couldn't keep back small moans and whimpers as he quickly had her panting with his handwork.

"So..." he said softly as he licked her earlobe. "Where did you leave the present they shoved underneath the door?"

She fumbled her hand around, much like he had on set with the phone as she felt across the bedspread for the foil packets. "Here," she said, shoving them into his free hand as she leaned up to kiss him hard.

Sure, it was a pain in the ass to have the babysitters around all the time, but it was thoughtful of at least one of them to bring them condoms because he hadn't used one in years, and didn't have any himself - he never could have imagined that he'd fall so fast and so hard for Ace. As she kissed him, he removed his hand from her center and ripped one of the packages from the strip, discarding the strip - somewhere and opening the package. Once his cock was wearing its jacket, he used her wetness to slick it up a bit more and was surprised about _how wet_ she actually was, which turned him on even more. He broke off the kiss and repositioned himself between her legs. "Ready?"

Aracely nodded hesitantly. "Yes - just - it's been awhile for me...a long while..." she whispered, mentally preparing herself to be extremely tender initially and after.

"Don't worry, I'll go slow." He promised her as he lined up his cock with her entrance, slowly pressing himself in. "Just tell me when you want me to stop for a bit."

Her mouth fell open as she felt him push his way into her body. She was far from a virgin and as much as she was _loving_ the moment, she could feel herself stretching to accommodate his size. "Just give me a minute," she said, licking her lips with her eyes closed as she wrapped her mind around the whole situation.

John stopped with what he was doing as she asked, already loving the way she fit around him. He took a few deep breaths and looked at her. "Does it hurt?"

"Just a little but it'll pass," she smiled at him and shifted her hips before nodding for him to continue. "I'm good...I'm good..."

"You're not good if you keep on saying that," John chuckled and softly pushed himself further into her. "Do you want to switch?"

Her mouth froze into an O. "No...Ohhhh," she moaned, arching her back underneath him before falling back to the mattress. "Oh God no! Don't stop!"

When his cock felt nice and snug, he started to kiss her, letting her body get used to him being inside of her before he'd start moving again. "You feel so good..." he muttered.

"Oh yes, you are - fuck," she grinned up at him. "I don't think I will be letting you go home so easily when the show is over."

"I wasn't planning to," he said as he sucked on her earlobe. "We at least need to arrange some visitation rights for your Hydrangea if you do end up letting me go... I'm sure she'll miss me when I'm gone."

Aracely laughed. "I'm sure that an arrangement can be made," she said as she could feel the discomfort leaving her and finally being able to enjoy him fully. "God you feel great..."

"So do you, and you taste amazing," he said, straightening himself a little so he could start moving inside of her. It felt a little awkward with the rubber on and he hoped that it would stay put and not start moving on its own. It wasn't like he needed to wear them much before as the only woman he had been sleeping with was his wife. In hindsight, he might have wished he did, considering her own activities behind his back.

As he carefully picked up his pace, Ace bit down on her lower lip as she growled up at him before holding a hand out. "Hold up for a sec, please," she said as she reached for one of the extra pillows to shove under her back that was beginning to ache from his angle of thrusts. "Much better," she chuckled.

"Sorry," he apologized. "This is a bad time to actually forget you're a bit on the cute short side."

"This shortie can still kick your ass," she reminded him, as she bucked her hips for him.

John groaned as she bucked her hips and responded with a firm thrust. "I _know_." He lifted his hand from the mattress, long enough for him to tease her clit, and short enough for him not to lose balance.

"John," she moaned, thrashing her head slightly as she raised her legs to hug his sides. "You are such a tease."

"Oh, and you're not?" He grinned as he started to pick up the pace again, alternating soft with firm thrusts. "God, you're so beautiful, look at that pretty face of yours!"

"Come here," she grinned, reaching out to pull him down and kissed him and bit on his lip. "Don't stop, baby, don't stop."

And he didn't, not until she'd reach the high that she deserved. He loved the little noises she was making as she was starting to get closer to the edge, he could feel her body squirm around him, but with him pinning her down, and her legs locked around his waist, there was no place to go for her.

"Oh god, oh god," she chanted as her body filled with fire and her vision flooded with bright lights and almost as if fireworks were lit up. Her body quickly tensed up under him that he passed over her pillow that she pressed to her mouth, biting down on it as muffled screams filled the area as she slowly rode out the long overdue orgasm.

Her orgasm sent him quickly over the edge too, he had been holding out for quite some time but he wanted her to fly apart first, as it was _her_ who had snuck into his bedroom despite saying 'no' at first. _Oh yeah,_ he thought as he felt how his cock emptied inside of the condom. _Much better than a hand job..._

Aracely panted as she laid there underneath him with a grin on her face. "Yeah, I'm not letting you go so easily," she said. "Wow!"

He planted a kiss on her neck and then with one hand around the condom, he pulled himself out of her. "Wow... yeah..." he breathed.

"Hopefully the Tweedles downstairs won't say anything to Banks. He'll give us the biggest headache about this I think," she replied, snuggling up to him.

John chuckled as he discarded the condom in to the bin next to the bed and put his arms around her, planting a kiss on her shoulder. "Who cares?"

"True," she smiled as she closed her eyes, resting a hand on his chest. "God this all feels so surreal."

"Yeah... I know..." he answered her softly. "But then again, life is pretty crazy right now anyway."

"No doubt about that. Hopefully it'll just go away and we don't hear from this freak again. It could have been just those couple incidents, right?" she asked hopefully.

"Yes," John nodded and caressed her long soft hair.

"Now I feel as if I could sleep for ages," she yawned. "You might get lucky with sleeping in tomorrow."

"Yay!" John grinned and kissed her softly. "Get some rest."

"Sleep is good," she agreed and settled down with him. Without long, she was sleeping soundly in his arms.

* * *

><p>True to her word, they didn't wake until nearly 8am, a time that Aracely always considered to be 'sleeping in'. Stretching as the morning sunlight peeked through the blinds, she smiled initially but her arms and legs were unbelievably sore. Looking around, she realized she wasn't in her own room and the memories of the night hit her. Reaching out, she tried to feel for John but she was alone in the bed. Sitting up, she pulled her nightgown back up to her shoulders as it had bunched around her midsection. "John?"<p>

John had been awake since around 6 am. For some reason, ever since _this all_ happened, he was incapable of sleeping in. He used to love lazing around until 10 or 11, but he hadn't find the calmness and comfort he usually had when he was by himself. He had received a few emails which he dealt with first; Rodney demanding more Nick _now_ and sending most of the scripts he had so far fixed back to him to add more, and delete other things, and grudgingly decided to do just that.

He had to admit, it was _fun_ on set yesterday, there was a different atmosphere and it wasn't just because Ace was with him. The terror had gone, and everyone was laughing and cracking jokes. So maybe it wasn't so bad to start trying to incorporate Nick a bit more this season, he just hated it that Rodney sent him the scripts when he had half a dozen of writers at his call. However, John was also glad that Rodney was bugging him, at least this way John didn't feel as if he was giving away his pride and joy.

There was another email from Teyla, telling him that he and Ace were scheduled to appear on a morning show on Friday - tomorrow, and that they were expected to be there around 5 am. She had emphasized on the 'dress nice' part and suggested to have Aracely plan their clothes as she had fixed the outfit for him the day before on set. Chuckling, he then realized that Teyla and Ace had the possibility to become great friends.

Of course, after a few days of rest, he found an email in his inbox he wasn't too happy with and neither was Gibbs as it had a video attachment with it of him and Ace on the _Masterminds_ set. Gibbs immediately called his tech to hack into John's computer from a distance and start tracing the email, not allowing John to do his work on it either.

Giving up, he decided to make coffee for all of them and bring Ace one in bed. He was halfway the stairs when he heard her ask for him and chuckled. "I'm here and I brought coffee."

"Mmm coffee," she smiled. "You're up early," she added as she sat up in the bed making a mental note to jump in the shower soon.

"Yeah, I decided to do some work," he replied as he sat down on the edge of the bed. "How are you feeling?"

"Good, a little hazy still but great," she grinned. "You?"

"Yeah, great," he chuckled and then filled her in on Teyla's email.

Aracely nodded. "Should be easy enough. I can go shopping in a bit for new clothes then work on the routine this afternoon."

"I hate shopping for clothes," he said, making a face. "Because you always have to fit something in those tiny dressing rooms if you don't want to go back and change it for something else a day later."

"I think I can find something for you without you being with me," she smiled. "You can do more work or work on the steps we've gone over already while I'm out."

John shrugged. "I suppose I'll have to; Gibbs' confiscated my laptop for now."

"Why? What happened?" she asked worried.

"Oh nothing, just an email with us on the set yesterday... video this time." He took a sip of his coffee. "Which is impossible because all the people present were people I know."

"Then one of them..." Aracely said slowly, not wanting to finish her statement.

"Yeah, I know and I don't want to think about it."

She nodded. "Okay. Let's get ready for the day then and get back to business. I'll go shopping, you practice a bit and we'll start working the routine out more when I get back."

John kissed her softly and got off the bed. "I'll be downstairs."


	12. Chapter 12

Backstage at the _Good Day L.A._, Aracely watched John as he paced the floor seemingly nervous. They waited for their segment to be called in a guest 'waiting' room of sorts. That day they had a new pair of faces, a tall thin woman named Kensi and Jenna. The morning before, she had a great time shopping, getting John a stylish outfit that relatively matched her own and she thought it was a cute idea.

"Seriously, did you have a Red Bull when I wasn't looking or something?" Ace asked, throwing one of the pillows on the couch at him.

He caught the pillow and sat down next to her on the couch. "No... well... maybe one or two..."

"You're sticking to coffee after this. No more Red Bull for you," she grinned. "Why are you nervous?"

"I always am before early morning interviews because I'm usually too groggy to answer questions the way I want them to be answered," John sighed.

"You've been up for over three hours already," she laughed. "Wouldn't you hit normal by now?"

"Depending on the kind of day, probably not... like... nights when I don't get enough sleep because I'm working late or _someone_keeps me up until 2 am when the alarm clock is set to go off around 4 am..."

Aracely pulled over a magazine and shrugged. "I didn't hear any complaining from you," she replied with a smile, glancing at him.

"I'm not complaining," John chuckled. "Okay, maybe I shouldn't have drank red bull on an empty stomach..."

"Relax," she said, putting her hand on his leg. "I won't let you say anything stupid. And yes, we are going to get you some food. There is fruit over on the table if you want to work on that in the meanwhile."

"I'm good for now," John sighed and started to play with his phone to check on his emails and stop bouncing off the walls.

There was a knock on the door and a head poked in. "Ten minutes until you're up," the man said before disappearing.

"I guess that's our cue to get out there," Aracely said, tossing the magazine to the side and standing up, needing to pull her skirt back a bit.

"I love this little outfit of yours." John grinned. "You have kept the receipt yes? I plan on handing it over to Teyla so she can get the show to pay for it."

"Uh, maybe," she laughed. Heading over to the table she grabbed an apple from the fruit basket and tossed it at him. "Come on lover boy. Let's get this over with."

John quickly snapped a picture of her on his phone and wrote a tweet as he followed her and munched on the apple she had tossed him.

***ShepFlight1:** Look! It's *AcieMoe! [twitpic] about to go on #gooddayLA #apples

When they got the signal to walk out on stage to the screams and clapping of the live audience, it made Aracely a little more than nervous because of the large open window behind where they would be sitting. Of course they were assured that the window was resistant to any form of sabotage but it didn't help much. She had to keep the pleasant face on as she smiled and waved back and went straight for the seat next to the hosts.

John tried to block out the sounds of the clapping and screams and he tried to ignore the big window but it was harder than he realized. He looked over to one of the baby sitters, Kensi, who gave him the thumbs up and a big assuring smile as he sat down next to Ace.

"Good morning! Wow, listen to all of that!" One of the hosts smiled widely. "It's great to have you two here, how are you doing?"

"Thank you for having us," John replied, noticing how he had slipped into 'survival mode' and the sugar rush was suddenly gone.

"Thank you, we're doing great," Aracely grinned back at them.

"We had a poll on our website, running it for a few days, asking our viewers who they thought who should win the competition, yes, I know, it's early on and there has only been one dance, but you two are the favorites to win, how does that feel?"

Ace looked back at John and smiled. "It's great. Overwhelming really. Everyone is doing such a great job and having a great time in the process. Whoever makes it to the end, it's because they deserve it. If it's us? It'll just be icing because I'm just so happy to have made such great friends in John and the other dancers."

"What do you think about the rumors of you two dating each other?"

"I personally find it hilarious but this guy doesn't so much. I think that any time people see two people who just get along so well, they can't help but to wonder that _what if_. I'm great friends with one of the other dancers, Aiden, and we recently went out to dinner the other night. Are we dating? It's just the usual and all anyone can do is just ignore it because the truth is in what John, myself, and the people around us know."

"It's ridiculous really," John answered. "Aracely and I have become good friends in a short period of time, but that's because she's making me work my ass off for at least 6 hours a day-"

"Which is only going to be increasing after today," she interrupted with a sweet smile and a pat on his knee.

"She's my boss," John nodded.

"You must be really busy then, John, with the practicing and your TV show."

The other host added onto that. "There is something I been wondering. This morning - a new video went viral online that shows the two of you in bed together. Have either of you seen it yet?"

"Yeah, I have," John replied. "Someone took that on a closed set, which I'm not too happy about. Now that my brother is indisposed, we're doing the best we can to keep the series fun and great until the season finale, and when I was there for a meeting, I got two pages of script shoved into my hands for my character and when I asked about the actress who clearly wasn't on set, we asked Ace to jump in. And it was fun, she's showing me how to dance, I taught her a little about acting."

"I have to say, it was _hot_. I can't wait to see it on the show. Aracely - I think the women of America are wondering, does John kiss the way everyone hopes? And John - the men are wondering, was Aracely really naked under those sheets?"

"Oh God, no," John chuckled. "I'll let you in on a well known secret on TV, unless it's... well you know R rated, but we're never naked underneath the sheets."

"I had flesh colored underwear on. As far as the other question..." she said looking at him, smiling. "While he and I are great friends, I think I'll keep that one to myself. The next woman to kiss him might be able to answer that for you."

"Also, a stage kiss is a lot different from a real kiss," John added.

"Is there anything you can give us too look forward to for Monday's performance?"

Aracely's smile grew large and bright. "Only this - the women of America will get exactly what they've been dreaming of. John may hate me after it."

John shrugged. "I already said to myself, if I can handle having her on the set dressed in nothing but a fancy bra and flesh colored underwear while wearing next to nothing myself, I can certainly do this, but I won't be entirely comfortable with it."

"John has a great body and I simply think that he needs to - show it off more and flaunt his moves," she shrugged.

The female host laughed. "I've met you before, John, and it certainly looks as if she's slowly pulling you out of your protective shell, how does that feel?"

"Scary?"

"I just want to touch on something more serious," the male host spoke up again. "You both have recently been seen around with a number of body guards. Even as far as moving in with each other - granted I am sure it was a necessary move. The papers haven't mentioned it, or perhaps ignored it, but there is a serious threat against you two, isn't there?"

"We both had received some very disturbing mail, online and through the set," Aracely explained. "It was advised to us that the best option was to stay together for awhile, as it was simply easier for the security people to keep an eye on the both of us at the same time. I have the extra bedrooms and studio in my house so it made sense."

"And we know it put more fuel on the fire about the rumors of us dating, but it was - and still is - necessary." John added.

"Have you thought about withdrawing from the competition?"

"No, not really," John answered. "We're still trying to live our lives the way we did prior to the threat, I don't think that putting everything on hold is the right decision. Aside from us practising and doing the show, I still have my own job to do and a lot of people depend on me, or used to depend on me, to get paid, you just can't put that on hold. The people providing us with the security are really good, they know what they're doing and sure, if there is something we would like to do and they think it poses too much of a risk, we're not doing it but apart from that, life goes on."

"How is your brother, John? You two were close, how does it feel now that he's -"

"I'm sorry," he interrupted the man. "I'd rather not talk about something that personal."

"Ah, my apologies. I understand what you mean," the host smile and nodded.

Any other day, Aracely would have piped up with something snarky about the man's brother, but she simply smiled at John reassuringly and kept her mouth shut.

"But as a _show runner_, how are you planning on filling the gap your brother's departure made?"

Aracely couldn't help but begin to grin and giggle like an evil she-devil at the question.

John looked at Ace and chuckled before he looked back at the host. "We decided to give in to what fans have been wanting since the start of this season. My character Nick will be written more three dimensionally and eventually replace my brother's character on the TV show."

A lot of screaming and clapping could be heard from outside, which made John look back and wave with a smile on his face.

"Now I have an undeniable urge to go read fan-fiction when we get home," Aracely laughed.

"Does your character have a name yet Aracely? Even is she is just a minor guest role?"

"Hot girl in bed." John responded.

"Yeah, that is exactly how it was written in the script," she confirmed. "I wouldn't mind having a name for her though. Something smexy!"

"Writers are lazy when it comes to thinking up names for characters that won't be seen again, mostly because if we end up giving every minor character a name, we'll run out of names to use for guest stars." John chuckled. "But I'm sure I could pull some strings to make them give you a name."

"Well - as _Nick_, what would be a name that for her that would roll off your tongue easily?" the host grinned, enjoying watching the play between them.

"Well, probably something exotic, a name you don't hear all too often on TV... Chloe, maybe?"

"You and I have a lot to talk about later if you think Chloe to be exotic and unusual," Aracely quipped.

"It's Greek, anything Greek or French is hot." John countered.

"I'm not French or Greek."

"No, but you're not what a personalized character could be."

Aracely raised an eyebrow and stared at him.

"Or Fluffly?"

Her small smile fell into an even line as she continued to look back at him.

"Dixie?" John grinned.

"Okay! Forget the dating rumors. You two already sound as if you're married - which of course we all know isn't true. When we get back from commercials, is your old dog really too old for new tricks? A handicapped Kentucky dog owner managed to train his 10 year old collie mix to bring him his medication and recognize significant signs of emergency. Thank you John, Aracely for joining us today..."

"Thank you for having us," Aracely smiled back, still shooting playful glares at John.

"Ohhh how about... Cookie? Or Lady?" John teased as they got off stage after saying goodbye to the hosts - getting a huge hug from Lucy the female host.

"Now you're calling me a dog?" she continued on. "You better stop while you're ahead of yourself."

John caught up with her and moved his face towards her ear. "Sexy kitten?" he said softly with a grin.

"Getting better," she whispered back. "So, breakfast? Maybe we can go to a local cafe."

"Oh, sounds like a plan," John nodded and at the same time his stomach growled. "Definitely."

"Kensi? Think its doable? With you and muscles here?"

"Yeah, sure, why not, just not this close to the studio though, there are too many people outside for us to handle if you'd sit down in something around here."

Ace nodded and before long they were seated out on the sidewalk, at her insistence, around the table. She eyed the menu and wasn't sure what to start with. "I could so get fat on all this..."

"Ace, you're not going to get fat from one fatty food, especially if you're going to dance the rest of the day."

"Tell that to my thighs," she replied, flipping to the salads page, ignoring the random photos being snapped from nearby by tourists hoping to see famous faces.

"Remind me later," he waggled his eyebrows at her.

She took a breadstick from the basket and threw it at him. "You won't be saying that when you need to lift and carry me across the dance floor."

"You're a light weight, I'm a guy, and I do have some arm muscles, thank you very much. Now pick something you really want to eat, when we go shopping for groceries later, I'll make a great, low on carbs, dinner tonight."

She stared at him in shock. "Oh my...you know what low carb is?" she joked.

"I was married to this woman once, she tried all these different diets but couldn't cook even if her life depended on it."

"Neither can you if it isn't a steak," Ace smirked.

"That pasta was... I wasn't paying attention to it!"

"I'll cook tonight, but you're buying the stuff," she said before looking up at the waiter who arrived for their orders. "I'll have the cheeseburger deluxe. Extra crispy on the fries please. And romaine lettuce instead of iceberg. No mayo, and a small dish of Italian dressing on the side."

"I'd like to have the baguette with turkey, hold the salad and extra mayo please." John grinned at Ace and shrugged. "Oh and a coke."

"Make his diet," she smiled sweetly. "Unsweetened iced tea please."

"Bah, I'm going to take up on smoking again if you deny me more sugar."

"You're too jittery on sugar," she replied as their babysitters ordered for themselves. "We have a lot of work to get done you know."

"Fine," John sighed and picked at the breadstick she had thrown at him earlier. "We still have today and the entire weekend."

"You still need to get in sync with me and the music."

"Should be a lot easier now," John smiled widely.

"Watch the jokes in public," Kensi said quietly. "The damage control you two managed to do this morning could very well be for nothing."

"Sorry," he replied and started to chew on the breadstick.

"So, seriously. Do you guys know _anything_ about the situation?" Aracely asked softly.

"We're looking into Dave's friends, since yours came all back clean... as far as we checked. We might have to expand our digging to partners, ex-partners... the LAPD is doing all they can and we're helping them where we can."

"No prints on those photos from John's house and the studio?"

"Nope, nothing." Kensi replied as she continued looking around. "Nell is still trying to trace the video source but she doesn't like all the hoops she has to go through and she keeps getting bounced... whatever that means."

"Yeah, neither do I..."

"Oh my god! Aracely? I thought I saw you on TV this morning!" A voice sounded from behind her that made her close her eyes in pain.

Turning in her chair, she smiled, painfully. "Ziva. You're in LA? I thought you went back to your sandbox."

"Friend of yours, ma'am?" Kensi asked politely.

"Oh we've known each other for years," Ziva replied.

"Yeah. Yeah," Ace nodded, narrowing her eyes. "I think the last time I saw you - you were fucking my fiance backstage."

Ziva threw her hands up in defense. "I just wanted to look out for you, he had been screwing other people behind your back too."

She nodded. "Yeah, well, you would know what that is like, wouldn't you?"

"Water under the bridge. Who's your handsome friend?" the woman asked, eying John up.

Aracely didn't reply and only glared at her and the familiar game. "Not interested."

"Ma'am, if you're here to stir up hostility, I suggest you leave." Kensi said, getting up. "These two people would like to enjoy their breakfast in peace."

"I'm sorry. I just thought I could catch up with an old friend..."

"Goodbye Ziva," Aracely said, taking a long sip of her water as she considered strongly dumping it over the woman's dry clean only dress. On second thought, she wished really badly for some red wine instead.

"I'll call you!" Ziva smiled widely. "Maybe go out like old times, you, me and Aiden."

"I think he'd rather chew his hand off to hanging out with you anymore," she muttered and only smiled and waved at the woman as she ran off.

As the woman left, the waiter came with their orders and John waited patiently until the waiter left. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I don't doubt that she'll try to find a way into your pants before she leaves LA again," she replied as she roughly added the lettuce and tomato to her burger before dumping the salad dressing over it. She was so unnerved that she didn't bother to notice the layer of speckled 'mayo' that peeked out from underneath the burger patty.

"Don't worry, she's not my type and I'm as loyal as a dog." John smiled reassuringly at her. "Besides, she sounds like a backstabbing bitch and anyone who hurt you is a bad person in my book."

"You know...I don't get why she is in _LA_. Last I heard, after she got shunned by just about every dancing partner, she returned to Israel."

"Ma'am, could she be a person of interest?" Kensi asked. "I don't recall her name on the list of names you gave us."

"I don't think so. She tends to sleep her way anywhere. Stalking isn't really her style," Aracely replied, shoving a bunch of fries into her mouth.

John took a bite of his sandwich and loved the taste of it. "This is one hell of a sandwich."

"Really," she smiled slightly as she lifted her burger but the pressure from holding it together caused the white substance to ooze out. "What the...? I thought I said no mayo..." she frowned.

"Oh you know how it goes, they always forget _something_." John nodded as he caught a mayo drop oozing from his own sandwich. "At least I got the extra extra mayo."

"John...put it down," Aracely said, frowning as her paranoia grew. "The last time I was here, I don't remember seeing green specs in their mayo. Sometimes they add in red pepper but nothing green. Where's the waiter?"

"Ace..." he sighed and shook his head. "Things can change, and even if it's gone bad... I'm hungry."

"Just for safety's sake, let's confirm this with the waiter," Jenna replied as she went to go find the kid that was serving them.

Sighing, John put his sandwich down and swallowed the last bite he had taken. He had eaten just about half of the french bread, and it didn't taste any different from any other shop. He took a sip of his diet coke but spat it out as that wasn't tasting so good.

It was only a couple moments later that the woman came back and shoved a bottle of water into John's hand. "Drink it now. We're going to the hospital to have you both checked out. You are right Ms. Morales. I just looked at their homemade stuff and it doesn't look anything like this but also, the plates were unattended long enough for someone to get to them before the waiter picked them up. We're bringing the plates with us," she added, sliding each dish into a plastic baggie.

Kensi stood as she helped. "I'll call Callen to have him come down and find whatever security cameras he can get his hands on," she said. "You okay Sheppard?"

John nodded and looked at the water oddly as he got up. "Yeah I'm fine."

"Did you talk to the manager?" she asked of her partner.

"Yeah. He knows that someone will be back soon. Let's get going. Have LAPD meet us at the ER," he said.

Aracely made her way over to John and looked up at him as she noticed his face pale slightly. "Come on," she said, taking his hand.

He stumbled over his feet as he followed her off the terrace. "I'm seriously pissed off now," he muttered.

"This is getting to be too much," she replied helping him as they made their way to the car. "Why _us_?"

"We're still trying to find out ma'am, but whoever is behind this is covering their tracks very well." Kensi said as she helped John into the car. "You still with us John?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"You don't look too good," Aracely said, running her hand over his face. "How far are we from the hospital?"

"Not far," Jenna replied as she hit the gas, throwing them back in the seat.

"Oh, don't do that, now I'm not feeling so good," John said as he felt as if he had to throw up. He looked at Aracely. "Are _you_ okay?" he sounded a little bit slurry.

"Yeah, I hadn't eaten any of the sandwich yet. Just the fries," she said, holding his hand.

Within minutes the group was at the ER doors and both of them rushed to separate exam rooms. Everything came back fine for Aracely but John appeared to have what one doctor explained 'rapid onset of food poisoning'. They knew it was more than that and after Deeks arrived, he rushed their plates to their lab for testing.

After about two hours of John vomiting until he had nothing but bile coming up, Aracely refused to leave his side. After so long without any symptoms the doctors felt she was fine. "You know, I won't be going so easy on you no matter how sick you are when you come home," she smiled, wiping his forehead after he finished another attempt of puking.

"Don't expect you to," he said, finding it hard to find the words, his body and head feeling tired of the throwing up. The room was spinning and other than feeling like crap, it felt like he had a very bad case of the flu. "But I really feel like shit."

"The doctors are planning on keeping you overnight," she said.

"N-no, it's Friday."

"Hopefully you'll be done with the puking. I'll see if they can give you something through the IV for the dry heaving," she smiled as she kissed him before making her way over to the desk where Deeks was talking with the doctor. "Back so soon?"

"Yeah," he smiled softly. "How's he holding up?"

Aracely shrugged. "As expected. He doesn't want to stay, that's for certain. The dry heaving is going down. Is there any way he can get something to relieve it some more?" she asked the doctor.

"I'll have a nurse give him something," he nodded and added more notes to the chart.

Looking at Deeks she frowned. "You know something..."

"Dave Sheppard is out on bail." Deeks figured he wouldn't beat around the bush.

"So you think he's trying to kill his brother now?" she asked.

"I wouldn't put it past him. Not after him beating John up like that. Some of his friends have rap-sheets a mile long."

"Yeah, but isn't it a pretty ballsy move to try something in public like that?"

"He's smart, he probably has a lot of people covering up for him or even try something like this for him," Deeks replied. "I'm also going to look into that friend of yours who interrupted you during breakfast."

Aracely sighed. "She's not a friend. Just a random dancing whore. Do you know what they tried to poison us with?"

"Maybe, they're still running tests, but it's great that he's holding on this long, most poisons work instantaneously and he could have been dead."

"He won't stay willingly and if he doesn't come home with me, I'm not going either," she told him flat out. "Any _idea_ of what it could be at least?"

Dr. Beckett approached the police officer and the patient's friend after the patient had just tried to lash out at him for podding and poking. He needed to get some answers and the man wasn't willing to give it to him. "Excuse me, ah... has Mr. Sheppard been unusually agitated in the last two hours?"

"Considering he and I both hate hospitals, I would think agitation would be normal. Why?"

"Has he complained of being dizzy? How's his speech and coordination?" He had asked these questions before and he wanted to know if there was any progress or if there was a lack of progress. "I'm sorry for asking you these questions Ms. Morales, but he's uncooperative."

"You try having someone stalking and trying to kill you," she glared before taking a deep breath. "He hates interviews and we had one this morning. He was asked about Dave but shot the question down quickly. Other than that, he was fine. A little hyper before hand but that's what Red Bull does."

"No no, you don't understand... I meant in the last two hours."

"We've been _here_, with you for the last four hours. No one but our baby sitters and your staff has been into the room," she replied. "That's a stupid question..."

"I need to know if his speech is slurry or what his coordination is like when he's not puking his guts out, please just answer my question."

She thought about it and shrugged. "It seems okay, maybe a little more so on the way here before all the puking took over."

"How much does Mr. Sheppard smoke?"

"He doesn't," she asked. "What the hell are _you_ smoking?"

"Fine, thank you." Dr. Beckett scribbled something down. "I'll start treating him with activated charcoal and give him some barbiturates to stay calm, since his nicotine levels are elevated, I suspect someone's been trying to kill you with a fortunately low dosage of nicotine. He should be fine in a couple more hours and maybe a little sore and sluggish."

"Can I take him home to sleep it off?" Aracely asked, hopeful.

"We'll see in an hour or two," the doctor nodded. "In the meanwhile, make yourself comfortable, have something decent to eat in our cafeteria."

She scowled at him. "Really?"

"This is a hospital, the food is safe, maybe a little inedible, but safe." Beckett shrugged.

"I read, a lot. I know that there are some sadistic freaks in your profession. I think I'll have my babysitters bring me something from outside," she smiled and hurried back to John.

John was busy puking when she came in again. "One second..." he groaned.

"Do you have anything left to puke up?" she asked as she took the rag and went to wet it again in the basin. "You might be able to get out of here in a few hours. They think they might know what it is."

"No... I don't..." he sighed. "Can't help it though, can't I get out now?" he whined. "Not that I can dance with you at this point but I don't like this place."

"I think your sugar rush of this morning might have saved your life, Mr. Sheppard. Of course, you're in good health so that works too," Beckett said cheerfully as he hooked up several IV's to a pole. "I'm going to need your arm so I can hook you up to the good stuff."

John grumbled as he stretched out his arm.

"Thank you. Now, I believe that because of your elevated nicotine levels, that they have been trying to poison you with Nicotine. If you had finished the entire sandwich, you probably wouldn't be here right now," Beckett cheerfully continued. "You'll have to be on this IV for an hour, maybe two before we check your levels again. If they have gone down significantly, then I _might_ send you home."

"Stop being so cheerful," he mumbled as he pulled his arm back from the doctor's grasp once he was done.

"John," Aracely warned softly. "He's just trying to help even if he gets under our skin. Come over here," she smiled, resting her head on the edge of the bed.

John shifted in the bed a little and sighed. "I feel like crap."

"You look like crap but I love it," she replied taking his hand. "Just get some rest and hopefully we'll get out of here soon."

"You love it that I look like crap?" He chuckled and sighed. Whatever the doctor was giving him, he was starting to feel more relaxed.

She grinned. "I love that I get to take care of you. Just close your eyes. I'm not going anywhere."

Once Beckett was sure that his patient was under, he turned to Aracely. "I am willing to send him home with you if his levels have gone down, but considering who you are and what you two are doing, there need to be a few rules for the next few days."

"What do you mean? I already plan on him staying in bed and sleeping it off as much as he can."

"Good, that was exactly what I was going to say. If he feels up to it, you may continue practicing your dance routine with him, but mind you, his body got into a serious shock today and he might feel as if he's suffering from the worst flu ever for a couple of days."

"When he needs rest, he will rest. I don't want him to push himself and if he's not able, then I have no problem dropping out. I know Doc, but thanks."

"I'll come back in a little while to draw a bit more blood and see if the charcoal is helping," and with that, he left.

* * *

><p>It was late that evening that they managed to finally drag themselves into the house. Callen and Sam picked them up from the hospital and were supporting John's weight. "Put him in my room. It's a shorter distance to my bathroom than the one in the hall and I have a larger tub that he should be able to get in and out of easier," Aracely said as she went into the kitchen for a bottle of water.<p>

"Made some food earlier," Gibbs remarked from his spot by the monitors as she walked into the kitchen. "Eat something."

"I'm not hungry," she said as she opened the cabinet for the bottle of Advil, quickly swallowing two tablets.

"How is he?"

She sighed as she leaned against the counter and looked up towards the steps. "Beaten like a rag doll. Doc said it'll feel like the ass end of a flu but he'll get better. Now I'm going to be terrified of eating out - anywhere."

Gibbs nodded. "I can imagine, but as long as you eat. I took the liberty to stock up today while you were in the hospital - the bill goes to Hammond, there is enough food for a couple of days to feed at least five people a day."

"This is going to sound really horrible but do you think someone can go get packs of the ramen noodles? As a kid they always made me feel better," she frowned. "They're like a quarter each."

"Yes ma'am, tomorrow someone will go out and get them for you, it's late now. You should get some rest."

"Yeah, I'm going. Thanks _Dad_," she smiled as she headed up. Changing quickly into an oversized tshirt and shorts, she crawled into bed, hugging John as he had already passed out in the hospital scrubs he came home in.


	13. Chapter 13

John woke up feeling like crap and Ace wrapped all around him, but fast asleep. Debating on whether or not to stay in bed, he decided against it as he was feeling restless. He managed to pry Ace's arms off of him and wandered into his bed room to get some clean clothes before attempting to take a shower.

Feeling successful in not falling over, he got dressed and went downstairs for a coffee and settled on the couch with his laptop so he could get some work done. The baby sitters were looking at him with a raised eyebrow, but John was determined to keep going and probably fall down in a heap around lunch time.

"Should you be out of bed Sir?" Banks asked as he looked at him with concern.

"Probably not," John replied as he opened the programme to start adding more of himself into the scripts he had already adjusted.

"Should we contact Ms. Emmagan to have you and Bumblebee out of the competition? It might help if things calmed down a bit..."

"We won't eat or drink anything not brought with us from home, I can assure you, but I don't think that Ace will like it if we dropped out of the competition."

"Um, it was actually her idea - she wanted to wait until you woke after decent rest."

"As much as I would like to drop out, it'd feel as if we would give into whatever this asshole wants. If I learned one thing, it's to keep on going and stay strong even though you're scared shitless on the inside," John muttered, knowing that he would have quit on his own accord after Dave had hit him in the face. "Had it been Aracely in the hospital, puking her guts out I would have agreed to drop out. I'll talk to her when she wakes up."

"Heh, it may be awhile. She was up and down all night. I can set up the tapes from your practices this week if you want to _try_ a little if you want. She showed me where everything was kept and set up in the studio."

"Maybe in a while... and it's good that she might be out for a while, she might kick my ass for seeing me here on the couch working."

"_I_ might kick your ass for working," Gibbs replied from the kitchen. "Just don't push yourself too hard."

John rolled his eyes. "I won't, but this needs to be done." He looked at his phone when it rang, seeing that it was Teyla. "Hi Teyla," John said, picking up the phone.

"What the hell happened? Are you okay? Where are you? Why aren't you at the hospital?" the woman asked, one question after another.

"I've had better days, and I'm at Ace's." He replied with a sigh. How the hell did she know about this? He looked over to Banks who had a smile from ear to ear on his face. _Figures,_ he thought.

"So, what happened? How are you feeling? Should I get you pulled?"

"Do you think we should pull out?" John deliberately dodged the other two questions. He felt scared and like crap.

Teyla sighed loudly. "Yes, but only if you want to. I know you were just starting to enjoy yourself but with so little time left..."

"Ah!" John chuckled. "You're afraid that I'm going to make an ass out of myself and Ace on Monday!" He took a sip of his coffee as he browsed through the script.

"No. I think you are incapable of that but I just am worried for you two."

"I don't know, Teyla," He sighed. "There's so many things we can't do right now because of this and I know that it'd be best to get out while we can, but it also provides a distraction at this point. Especially for Ace. Dancing is all she has and frankly, I'm tired of being a victim and even though I'm scared, I really am scared and I worry for _her_ life, I think that if we'd stop, we'd show whoever is behind this that we give up. That we're easy."

"Well, maybe I can offer another distraction - a pleasant one?" Teyla asked, a smile in her voice.

John blinked and for a moment his mind went completely somewhere he didn't want it to go. "Do share."

"Hammond had an idea for the show, and while I am hesitant about it, I think it may make an interesting arc for next season and for_Nick_."

"Alright, I'll bite." He answered, doubting if that idea was as interesting as Teyla claimed it was. "What is it?"

"He wants Nick to have a silent partner, one that the Feds don't know about who - is also his lover..." she grinned into the phone, hoping he got the drift.

"You do know that I have a strict policy against dating co-workers, right?" John countered as he let the words sink in for a moment.

Teyla was silent on the other end of the line. "So you two _are_ dating - so to speak? I didn't know but now I do and I think it just makes it all the more believable on screen."

"It's only been since a couple of days, but yeah... but please don't tell anyone."

"Since _that_ day I bet. I won't, you know me. But Rodney won't be so easy. In order for you to sell that reason, you would have to tell him and he can barely keep his lid on everything as it is. You're either going to have to fess up or change that rule."

"Alright, how about... I don't know if she wants to? Or if she can even act? Sure, you act during dancing, but this is different stuff... Oh I don't know..." John sighed. "I'll ask her."

"I think she can do it. And I'm sure she can handle small scenes where she is in the background before she becomes more involved. Until then I can set her up with an acting coach. It'll work and I know you will love it!"

"You're getting a little ahead of yourself," John chuckled and shook his head, releasing the fog again. "Uhm..." he put his laptop on the table and laid down on the couch. "I'll talk to her, about everything, I promise."

"Okay. Get some rest. You sound like shit."

"I feel like shit. It's like the worst flu ever without the coughing, sneezing and high temperature but with all the added bonuses of tired muscles and a foggy head."

"Go back to sleep. Tell your babysitters I'll be by later. Love you!" Teyla said before hanging up.

"Teyla will come by later," John said as he grabbed his laptop again and worked from his new position on the couch. "She's safer than a safety pin!" Eventually, John had dozed off again.

By the time Aracely woke up, she immediately knew that John was missing from her bed. The feeling of not knowing where he was made her grumpy as she stumbled out of her room. "Where's John?" she called out, as she shuffled her way to the common areas.

Gibbs pointed at the couch. "He did some work on his laptop and received a phone call and that's the last thing I heard out of him."

She frowned as she looked over at him. Standing over him, she smiled slightly before crawling on top to straddle him then shift to lay beside him. With her head on his chest, she couldn't but to just watch him sleep. "Its not going to get any easier. Is it?" she asked looking at him but speaking to Gibbs.

"They came close, really close yesterday," The man replied. "I personally would like to have you in full lock down mode, but on the other hand, that will not help in finding the person, or persons, responsible for stalking and hurting you."

"Wake us when it all goes away," she mumbled as she closed her eyes, listening to John's heart beating.

John woke up with a start, unable to move and trying to get his bearings, realizing he was still in Ace's home and that it was Ace who was on top of him. "Ugh." He groaned and sighed.

"I don't want oatmeal," Aracely mumbled at being disturbed, burying her face into his shoulder more.

"Good, me neither, I don't even like oatmeal," John replied softly and caressed her hair with his free hand.

"If you two plan on staying in this show, you should be downstairs working," Teyla's voice came from above them.

"When did you get in?" He looked up to see Teyla's face. "Hey," he smiled.

"While you two slept together like adorable children. How far are you two into the routine? You think you can pull it off?" she asked as she tried to shake a rather stubborn Aracely awake.

"Yeah, I think so," he answered and chuckled as Ace only tried to crawl into John further. He planted a kiss on Ace's forehead. "We've got a visitor, please wake up," he said softly in her ear.

"Visitor can go screw themselves with a jackhammer," she mumbled.

He started to laugh and then tried to get up. "You'll have to get off me, and then apologize to Teyla."

She rolled off him the best she could and looked up at the woman. Making a face she fell back down in to the spot that John vacated.

Shaking his head, he took his now cold coffee with him as he took Teyla to the kitchen. "I doubt she'll be awake enough to talk shop anytime soon, Teyla," John said and went to look for some ibuprofen.

"Cabinet next to the fridge," Gibbs said, not looking up from what he was doing.

"Maybe I can be of help," Teyla smiled. "Aracely?" she called out, receiving a moan from the lump on the couch. "If you do not return for another season on TTL, would you be interested in a role on Masterminds?"

Aracely remained still for a long moment before she lifted her head with a confused look on her face. "Huh?"

"Hammond and Rodney want _Nick_ to have a silent partner who's also his love interest and they want you." John said, getting a glass of water to down the pills with. "I told Teyla that it's up to you."

"I don't know how to act," she said, rubbing her eyes as she sat up with a frown. "Food?"

"I'll make you a sandwich," John responded and duck his head into the fridge, but the smell of the goods in there made him feel sick again. Popping his head out of the fridge, he reached for a couple of things blindly and put them on the counter.

"We will instruct the writers to get you into little scenes at first, for example, you could be in the background on a street scene or walk by Nick to give him something, and of course, you'll be getting all the help we can give you, such as an acting coach over the summer who will also continue to work with you during the series," Teyla expanded. "Of course, should you not want to, then that is alright."

Even as tired as she was, she considered it. It wouldn't be such a bad change from dancing and she would still be in entertainment which she loved. "Let's try small things for awhile and see how it works. I'm not so sure about TTL with all this drama which makes me glad I signed only a 1 season contract with options."

"Do you wish to withdraw from TTL at this moment?" Teyla asked politely as she took the mayonnaise jar from John's hands. "Not everyone likes mayonnaise with ham on their sandwich."

"No," she said after a minute, "but you just gave me an offer I never considered before."

"You two are insane," Teyla shook her head sighing as she took the plate from John's hands and brought it over to Aracely.

"Thanks," Ace said as she sat back and ate slowly. "I have the headache from hell right now and we need to try to get some time in John. If we're going to do this at least. We can ask to not consider us for an encore when it comes to it that way we can crash all day Tuesday."

"I'll do what I can, I promise." John said as he put the stuff back in the fridge and started a new pot of coffee.

"It would help if you put the water in before you turn it on, Sheppard." Gibbs said, quickly switching off the machine. "Sit."

The man nudged him towards the living room as he went to get a fresh pot started. Aracely silently handed him over half of her sandwich as if it came naturally to her when he sat. "You okay with the idea of them wanting me on your show?" she asked, looking up at him still half asleep.

"Oh no," he chuckled and shook his head. "I'm not going to say anything until you decide after taping a few episodes that you'd like to stick around or not. All I'm going to say is that we have a very loving cast and crew who are more than willing to help out with anything you need."

She looked at him with a frown. "You don't want me to consider it, do you?"

"I'm not saying that at all. I don't want me to influence your decision," he smiled at her. "It could be a huge opportunity for you as there's not really an age limit to acting, but there is to professional dancing."

"I don't care John. If you're going to be uncomfortable on set or whatever with me being there, I don't want that either. I'd like the opportunity yes, but not if it will become something that could come between us."

"I won't be uncomfortable with you around on set." John answered and smiled at her. "This is your decision, not mine to make or help you make."

Aracely pulled her legs up and shifted closer to him. "Then I won't," she said simply. If she were honest with herself, she wanted to scream inside but she wanted him more.

"Why not?"

"Because I'd rather make sure that whatever we have here works out than not," she smiled softly.

He put his arms around her and smiled. "What we have here, will work out, no matter what. I told you, I'm as loyal as a dog and I'm not going anywhere."

"You two are so sweet it makes me ill," Teyla commented, playfully gagging as she walked back into the kitchen to get away from them.

John grinned. "We love you too, Teyla!" He took a bite of his half of the sandwich and smiled at Ace. "You'd be a great addition to the cast."

"Really Aracely, you would. That video that leaked has gotten a number of responses. I just wish I knew who recorded it," Teyla sighed.

"It's neither here nor there. Come on, let's try to at least get through the whole routine without passing out," she sighed, pulling on John's pants leg.

He groaned as he got up. "You're not going to make me slide, are you?"

"No, not right now. You're going to have to do that in shoes though so we'll have to _try_ that all morning Monday or at the very least some tomorrow," she said. "I'm going to get changed." Skipping back up the stairs she went to her room to quickly wash up and pull on decent clothes to work out in.

John made his way over to the studio and tried to shake his legs awake, or at least responsive. He really hoped Ace would chance her mind about not joining the cast for the next season, because he knew that she'd be a great addition and a perfect fit.

They spent the rest of the day rehearsing with a great deal of breaks for the both of them, between John still dealing with his issues, the stress from everything gave her a massive migraine. When it was time to call it a day, they literally had to crawl into bed.

He woke up early again on Sunday - 9 am, which was early for _him_, and after going to the bathroom he crawled back in bed, slowly starting to massage Ace's back after finding a bottle of massage oil between her bottles of woman-stuff.

"Mmmm," she moaned, smiling. "What did I do to get this treatment?" she asked.

"For being you," John said yawning and planted a kiss between her shoulder blades.

"How are you feeling?" she asked, going to roll over to her back and looked up at him. "You have some color back but still pretty pale," Aracely said reaching up to trace his face.

"Still crappy, but better than yesterday I suppose. I feel like I've gotten at least some control back over my limbs." He shrugged and moved his hands underneath her shirt so he could caress her stomach.

"Oh?" she smiled as she watched him. "Does that mean I get to work you harder today?"

"You can try," he grinned and kissed her sweetly.

She returned his kiss before pulling him down and rolling them in the bed. "I just might," she said, waggling her eyebrows suggestively.

"Am I in trouble?"

"That depends on what you did that requires a punishment," she replied as her hands started pushing his shirt up his body.

"Well..." he thought for a moment. "I only set out to give you a massage," he said, looking up to her with a big smile. "Mostly because I'm probably going to have to use up all my energy to run away from you once you realize that I've sent an email to Hammond and Rodney saying that you're going to be on Masterminds next season."

She had been in the process of trying to get his shirt over his head that when he said that she just yanked it off. "You did what?" she asked, looking at him. "Are you serious? Why?"

"Well, I could send them another email saying that you're not going to do it..." John shrugged, grinning from ear to ear. He knew better than really sending off that email, he just wanted to see her reaction.

"So - I'm going to be playing your girlfriend on it?" she asked, thinking more.

"Yeah, and the partner-in-crime the FBI won't know about, you get to learn some smooth tricks from our resident conman Paulo."

Aracely sighed as she sat back, right over his groin. "I suppose it's better than having to stand back and watch you get busy in bed with some other woman," she deadpanned before grinning.

"I always set out not to give Nick a girlfriend when I wrote him."

"And now? Now that you have a new girlfriend of your own?" she teased as she moved down his body, pulling his pants and shorts down with her.

"If you really don't want to do it, I'm not going to allow the writers to write me a fictional girlfriend either." He looked at her, wondering what the hell she was doing. She wanted sex? Again? Not that he didn't want to, but he always thought that women would have enough of once a week, mostly because Nancy only wanted to have him once a week. He sat up and pulled her up to him, kissing her tenderly.

She kissed him, grinning as she broke it off. "No, no. Behave yourself. This is your punishment for getting ahead of yourself with _my_character now." Moving back down, she took his cock that wasn't quite awake yet and began stroking it with a slow and firm touch.

"You stroking that monster down there isn't really punishment, you know," he pointed out.

"And if I _bite_?" she asked, snapping her teeth for show. "What then?"

"Uncontrollable limbs, you don't want to get kneed in the face, do you?" John cocked his head, watching her.

"I think I can handle myself," she smiled as her nails dug in on the inside of his thigh.

"AH! Christ!" He cried out, his cock standing to attention immediately. "What was _that_?"

"Oh! You like pain! Good to know," she laughed filing that information away for later. "I didn't take you for the experimental kind...We could have _a lot_ of fun with that." Leaning over, Aracely's tongue darted out, licking at the sensitive skin of the head of his dick. "Mmmm. Tasty."

Why the hell was he hypersensitive? He managed to suppress a giggle - well, maybe not that well, and tried to scoot his hips towards his armpits, trying to get that monster away from her and then reminded he had hands to shield his cock from her mouth. "You're not... actually going to eh... suck me off, are you?"

She batted his hands away. "You didn't have any objection to it the other night," she grinned, returning to her task happily.

He hadn't objected to it the other night because he wasn't thinking straight, right now his brain was in overdrive. He wanted to ask her for using a condom while she seemed to have found a new toy, mostly because he wasn't sure if Nancy was clean, or Larrin for that matter and if she wasn't, he wouldn't be either. "Please, use a condom?" he breathed as she was sucking happily. "I _want_ to get myself tested once everything has calmed down, just in case my ex-wife's girlfriend has something..."

Sighing, Aracely sat up with a frown. "Fine," she relented. "Of course you know this means first thing tomorrow before we do anything we're going to the doctor for you because I was enjoying myself. I think that if you really did have _something_ the tests from the other day would have showed it."

"I know... I'm sorry..." John sighed. "See? Now you have a proper reason to punish me, I've ruined the mood."

She pouted as she looked down and smacked his cock with her hand before stroking him again. "I think I'll survive," she smirked.

"Ow!" He laughed. "That was mean."

"We left the condoms in the other room, didn't we?" she asked, as she continued stroking him firmly.

"Yeah..." he groaned, God, her touch was magical.

Aracely grinned as she slapped him again lightly. "I'll be right back. Don't you go anywhere," she said, leaning in to kiss him before bouncing off the bed and out of the room, leaving the door open as she ran up the hall.

"Oh sure, leave me all exposed," he crawled under the covers.

When she came back she raised an eyebrow. "I thought I said not to move," she said as she closed the door and went to the foot of the bed. Quickly she grabbed handfuls of the linen and yanked it down to the floor.

"You left the door open! What if one of _them_ would come upstairs huh?"

"They wouldn't unless it was an emergency," she smirked as she eyed him up.

"I don't like that look on your face..."

Aracely frowned. "What look?" she asked, crawling onto the bed between his legs, taking his cock in her hand again.

"That look that tells me you're thinking of doing other things..."

"I am thinking about making you feel good..." she answered softly as she let him go to undress herself.

He looked at her and smiled giddily. "I was trying to make _you_ feel good with that massage!"

"And I appreciate it but you're the one that needs some attention," Aracely said, licking her lips as she went to put the condom on him. Moving to position herself over him she let his cock rub at her very wet opening. "Unless you don't want to..."

"Oh... God..." he sighed happily as he looked at her, it almost looked like she was glowing or something. "Oh... I do... just not used to have this kind of fun more than once a week..." He said blushing.

"You're in for a spoiling then," she laughed. "Because I think I'm hooked on you..." Pressing herself down, she let him fill her completely. Her mouth fell open as she watched him, letting out a mix of a sigh and growl of pleasure.

He caressed her legs, slowly moving upwards to her torso and smiled. "You look so beautiful..."

She began to ride him slowly and looked at him heavily. "You're perfect, so perfect," she moaned, resting her hand over his when he reached her breast.

* * *

><p>Aracely laid across the top of John's body, grinning from ear to ear. "I don't know, I think you might have enjoyed that punishment," she replied, leaving kisses over his chest.<p>

"I did," he answered and drew circles on her back with his finger tips. "So it wasn't really a punishment, was it?"

"Maybe, depending on what you've done. However, I think it was appropriate for telling Hammond that I'll be on the show."

"I didn't send that email," John confessed. "I just wanted to make you really think about it, because I think it would be fun for the both of us."

She smiled and shrugged. "I admit I really wanted to do it and what I said about having to watch you kiss other women was true. I don't want to share you with anyone, even like that if I can help it."

"Honey," he chuckled. "I'm an actor, we learn how to stage kisses... although I must admit that kissing you the other day on set was_not_ one of them..."

"I'm so comfortable right now. I don't want to get up but we need to shower and get in the studio," Ace pouted, looking up at him.

John nodded. "I know... let's see if I can stay vertical enough," he grinned and kissed her.

"You better because I have plans for you when you are back to 100%," she teased, pushing herself off him and out of bed.

"Yep, you're going to break me," He replied as he got out of bed himself.

They practiced until dinner when Teyla walked in on them in the studio announcing she had made soup and some salmon dish that John really liked as Teyla had often cooked for him and brought it to the set. "You should take it easy, John."

"I am taking it _very_ easy, don't worry, Ace is looking after me," he said, making his way towards the bathroom as his intestines were acting up.

"Considering everything I think we're doing pretty good. He's gonna need something for his stomach before the show though," Aracely said as she made her way over to sit and eat.

"Would you like me to come with? To make sure that everything is taken care of?"

"Actually," she said thinking. "He could use some support in the audience. You want to go to the show and watch him dance live?"

Teyla's smile grew wide. "Can I bring Torren? He keeps on watching your last week's performance."

"Yes! I'll text them to let them know John will actually use his guest seats this week," Aracely said as she got up to run for her phone.

John blinked as he walked into the kitchen and see Aracely run towards her phone. "What's the commotion?" He sat down at his plate and started on his soup.

"Torren and I will be in the audience tomorrow night for TTL," Teyla grinned. "I am so excited!"

"Oh no..." John groaned. "Really?"

Aracely came back with her phone in hand as she typed away on it. "Alright, you won't be going in through the same entrance as everyone else as there aren't any tickets. They'll set up another small table but you're going to have to go with us to get in and that's going to be _early_ because it'll be the only time we'll be able to have dress rehearsal for him to get his sliding in with the shoes and shorts."

"John's going to wear shorts on live TV?" Teyla said with big eyes and looked at John. "Wow, John, I can't believe what I'm hearing."

"It's Risky Business. He _has_ to be in his underwear. Of course he'll have more underneath and the fly is sewn shut for no peekaboos."

He didn't say anything and just continued eating. He was hungry. He had finished the soup and was currently eating the salmon dish. "You've got more of this, right?"

"Of course. I know you love it despite being unable to make it yourself," Teyla said as she pulled Aracely towards the table after a failed attempt at prying the phone from the woman's hands.

John looked at the women and got his phone out of his pocket. Grinning he started typing away and sent the message before putting his phone back down.

***ShepFlight1:** Earth to *AcieMoe, you have to eat! #delicious #dinner #regretlater

John then noticed the mountain of his head shots on the counter. "You're expecting a rush of fanmail?"

"Yes." Teyla replied simply and placed a sharpie on top of it. "Only when you have time."

***AcieMoe:** *ShepFlight1 Start signing. You're going to need your hands later. #likeaboss

***ShepFlight1:** *AcieMoe I'm eating and I'm going to get seconds and maybe thirds later #willdefinitelyregretlater

***Teyla_Emmagan:** Oh for the love of... *AcieMoe and *ShepFlight1 put your phones down and EAT YOUR DINNER! #likeaboss

***AcieMoe:** *Teyla_Emmagan yes mom... *ShepFlight1 started it first...

John was about to reply when he caught the gaze of Teyla. He handed over his phone and continued to eat.

Aracely smirked as she stuck a forkful of the salmon in her mouth and smiled cheekily as she ate. "I win," she said.

He got up to get seconds. It was almost as if he hadn't had anything to eat for a couple of days, feeling completely empty on the inside. Teyla's food was always flawless and extremely tasty, and he could already feel his body responding to the sudden boost of food. He thought that by now his stomach problems would be over, but apparently not.

"Take it easy before you puke all that up again," Teyla said as she watched him.

John sighed and put his plate down. "Don't talk about that... now I'm not hungry anymore."

"Go lay down," Aracely said, looking at him. "We're done for the day."

"No we're not, I still trip," John pointed out. "Need to fix that."

"Maybe after you lay down and sleep off the food you just inhaled."

He looked at Teyla for help, but she just raised her eyebrow. Sighing, John walked off to the living room to lay down on the couch. "Two against one, it's not fair."

"I thought he said he was married," Aracely said to Teyla. "You would think he knew that he would _never_ win an argument."

"Oh, he never won an argument with Nancy, that's why he tried to stay away as much as possible, despite loving her." Teyla sighed and decided to eat some of her own made food. "She was horrible to him and yet, he followed her around like a puppy looking for a home. Of course, when he found out about Larrin - well it wasn't hard to find out... he decided to take matters into his own hands."

"You know I can hear you two talking about me!"

"Shut up and go to sleep," Ace called back.

"Don't make me come over and tuck you in," Teyla added with a grin.

"Oh fine!" John grumbled and pulled the blanket over his head.

"Men," she sighed, shaking her head, winking at the woman. "Sometimes they just need to be babied."

"I heard that," Gibbs nodded as he walked into the kitchen to make a fresh pot of coffee. "Just tell me when I have to sort him out."

Sighing, John got up from the couch and made his way upstairs. He got out of his pair of sports pants and crawled in bed, quickly drifting away in a light sleep.


	14. Chapter 14

Catching their breath, Aracely and John made their way over to Walter as they waited for the cheering to calm down and the judges to give their comments. She knew he was hanging in there, but was still a bit pale despite the make up.

"Wow, how great was that?" Walter smiled widely. "How do you two feel?"

"Worn out. Tomorrow is _definitely_ a rest day for us," Aracely grinned, patting John on the chest as she hugged him.

John chuckled and nodded in response, he just wanted to go home and collapse. And get some pants on.

"Well, I know you are looking to be able to get off your feet so let's go to the judges," the man replied. "Steven?"

"John, I'm glad to see you standing up straight despite feeling ill, your posture was a lot better this week as well," Steven started and smiled. "Could have been a little more traditional for my taste, all those extra things weren't really necessary, although I'm sure that the ladies loved seeing you dance in your knickers, and Aracely's legs must have done it for the men."

Ace laughed as she looked up at John. "I told you," she grinned.

"Laura?" Walter asked. "As a woman, what did you think?"

"As a woman? Really?" Laura shoot a look at Walter. "I managed not to get distracted and look at the performance, that's what I did."

"No, you didn't," David grinned.

"Yes, I did and I thought that you two were remarkable. You are obviously not feeling well, and still, it looked as if I was watching a dream. I almost thought you two were connected by magnets, only releasing when you truly had to be. Good job."

"David, what do you think?"

The man sighed as he looked over at John. Smiling slowly, he winked. "John Sheppard you sexy _devil_! That was fabulous! That was fun. It was cheeky, it was sultry, it was -"

"It will be the death of me if he continues on," Steven commented as he looked at the man.

"You had your turn to say your words it is mine now," David replied. "John, Aracely, neither of you need pants. I think everyone watching will agree."

"This is a family show, for crying out loud," Steven remarked. "Of course they need pants!"

"Bah!"

"You know what, let's end this, why don't you two go upstairs and wait for your scores? If they can sort themselves out that is," Walter grinned.

Ace nodded, as she wrapped her arm around John's. "You did good," she said as they made their way up, waving at Teyla and Torren that was seated nearby.

He grinned at Torren who was smiling from ear to ear. "I feel like I'm about to collapse."

"Just got to get our scores then we can sit the rest of the night," she replied.

Aracely didn't say anything but kept her arm around John, rubbing his back as they made their way to their next obstacle. "Oh hey! Look at you two!" Chuck, the co-host grinned. "Come here! You were great! I know you want to hurry up and get off your feet so let's get right to your scores."

Laura grinned as she held up her paddle, "8!"

Steven rolled his eyes as he held up another 7 for the couple.

David was busy glaring and shaking his head at his fellow judges before he revealed his. "9!"

"Well that's a score of 24! Are you happy with that John?"

"Uhm... yeah, makes me wonder what it'd be like if I was 100%," he answered, forcing a smile on his face.

"Looks more like you gave 120%. Go sit down and rest. You've earned it tonight," Chuck smiled and patted the man's shoulder before turning back to the camera. "Remember, if you love John and Aracely they can't depend on judges scores alone! If you want to see them back next week, you have vote! Number is on the screen! We'll be back after a word from our sponsors..."

After they sat down on that blissful couch, Kensi handed them a bottle of water with a smile, before disappearing into the shadows again. "I think you should pull out," Aiden continued the conversation they had before the show started, talking softly so not everyone could hear them. "If they came that close to you, you should stop and hide."

"I'm all for it but at the same time, John's right. We can't just run and hide because that's what they want," Ace replied as she drank half of her bottle and handed it over to John who finished his rather quickly.

Aiden smacked John on the head. "Dude, you nearly died," he said in a hushed voice, "Do you want to keep putting yourself and her in danger just to find out who's behind all this?"

"It was a joint decision Aiden. Leave him alone," she replied smacking him back.

"Yeah well, I think you two are nuts. Maybe even more crazy than Ziva popping up in LA again."

John was glad that they were able to go home soon after, Ace reluctantly agreed to skipping the 'media walk' and he had fallen asleep in the car on the way home.

"Come on, time to get up," Callen said, nudging the two. "Whole new day tomorrow. I doubt you two want to sleep in the car all night. Makes for bad backs, trust me."

"Yeah..." John groaned and sat up straighter. "Give me a sec."

Aracely lifted her head from John's shoulders tiredly. As she waited for him to climb out, she ran her hands over her face, as if to wipe the sleep from it long enough to make it inside the house. "Sneakers or slippers all day tomorrow. No heels," she joked quietly as she followed everyone through the garage and upstairs.

"Socks." John nodded as he walked right through towards his bedroom. "Or no legs!"

"Where you going?" Aracely asked as she stopped at her room. "Sleep..."

"Whatever bed works," he answered and followed her into her bedroom.

"Make sure you two actually _sleep_ this time please?" Banks whined from down the stairs.

"Yep, not a problem," John said as he took off his pants and shirt and crawled into bed, sighing happily for the cool sheets and the soft mattress.

Aracely had gone into the bathroom before coming out wearing a large t-shirt and joined him quickly. "I know. I love my bed too," she teased as she snuggled up to him.

"My bed is better," he grinned as he put his arms around her and planted a kiss on her forehead.

"I don't know about that right now," she replied. "I think I like mine more right now. I have something here that I didn't have when I was there."

"What's that?" John yawned.

"You."

"Well, my bed can have me in it too," he chuckled.

"Yeah but until the show is over or we're voted off, it's just easier to stay here."

"I know..." John snuggled closer and closed his eyes. "You're so warm and soft..."

Aracely sighed as she let herself doze off, feeling content and happy for a long time.

When she woke up, Ace knew it was going to be difficult to go back to sleep. Seeing John still sleeping soundly, she slipped out of bed and cleaned up before going for a coffee.

It was around 10 am when he woke up again, finding the bed empty. John felt stiff and sore all over and decided to take a hot shower to rinse off the strain of the night before before he'd get dressed and make his way downstairs.

She sat on the couch with a blanket over her legs as she looked out the window. Hearing movement, she looked over and smiled at John as he walked in. "Sleep well?" she asked.

He made his way over to her and sat down on the couch next to her, planting a soft kiss on her lips. "I think I did, what about you?"

"Yeah," she replied. "Teyla called for you while you were asleep. She asked if you can call her back as soon as you wake up. Something about an award show."

"Oh... oh! I totally forgot about that..." he sighed and put his head on her shoulder. "Scripted prime time awards." John made a face, he hated award shows and had the fortune that he never really worked on well-watched shows so he had to turn up, but now that _Masterminds_ had turned out to be a success, he had to go for the second time.

"Sounds like fun," she said. "Just remember to smile when you win."

"I doubt the show wins anything this year," he chuckled and shook his head. "Besides, I have to wear a suit, and I don't like suits."

Aracely smiled and glanced away. "I think you look sexy in them," she said softly, almost as an incentive.

"Yeah, Teyla said something like that too a month ago when she ordered me a suit for this show." He sighed and shrugged. "I gave in, I'm just not going to wear a tie or something."

"Ooh even better," she teased. "So who else is going with you?"

"Well, Teyla, because I was just separated from Nancy when the invitation came and really didn't want to go with Nancy... maybe she managed to poke Rodney into coming too, now that he's going to take over as show runner and everything..." He softly caressed her hair and smiled. "It's on Thursday night."

"Yeah and you're not going." Gibbs walked in and sat down on the table in front of them. "Too much of a risk."

"Good, because I don't want to go," John nodded. "Although if you call Hammond and tell them of your decision, he will have your ass. It's extra publicity for the network and the show so I'll have to whore myself out."

Aracely look at Gibbs curiously. "We all still have to do certain events whether we want to or not. You know how it goes. We both already cut back on _everything_ else but what's absolutely necessary. I'm sure that we'll be fine if you have one person here with me, send the rest with John. Say like they are the other 'background' people for the show so they have a reason to be there."

"Thursday, you say?"

"Yep," He answered and took his phone to call Teyla and watched Gibbs walk off. He really hoped that Teyla wouldn't cancel on him, there was no way he was going to go there all by himself.

"What do you think is going to happen?" Aracely asked as she looked at John. "You should be there, if at least for the free drinks."

John chuckled and kissed her. "That's one good incentive... why isn't Teyla picking up?"

"Text her. Maybe she's somewhere that she can't answer," she suggested as she pulled out her own phone to play with.

***AcieMoe:** *BetterThanTheCar Sup Bro? #partnerislostonthephone

***BetterThanTheCar:** *AcieMoe did you know that next week's dance will be a non-ballroom dance but you'll have to make it ballroomy? #partnerislostonthedancefloor

***AcieMoe:** *BetterThanTheCar ...Interesting.

***ShepFlight1:** *Teyla_Emmagan Where are you? #sonotlostonthephone

***AcieMoe:** *ShepFlight1 Gave up on text and went to Twitter says otherwise.

***Teyla_Emmagan:** *ShepFlight1 Will call you back. At pediatrician with Torren.

***ShepFlight1:** *Teyla_Emmagan Hope it's nothing serious! #wellwishes

***Teyla_Emmagan:** *ShepFlight1 I fear the chicken pox. Both of us will likely be stuck home until the infectious period is over.

***ShepFlight1:** *Teyla_Emmagan … Get well soon

"Chicken Pox." John grumbled. "She's not going."

"I see. She needs to stay away from me then. I never had it," Aracely said as she tossed her phone on the coffee table.

"Teyla's always thoughtful like that. Once Torren had the measles and she was afraid that he'd infect her and then the entire set so she stayed home..." He sighed. "Do you happen to have a fancy dress?"

"John Sheppard! Are you asking me to be your date?" she grinned.

He rolled his eyes at her. "I really don't want to go alone or get stuck with Rodney all by myself, if he even goes."

"Sell it to the silver fox," she said, sipping her coffee.

"Hey Gibbs?" John called out. "My date for that show can't come, so I'm taking Ace!"

There wasn't a response, other than something slamming the table hard followed by some inaudible curses.

"I don't think he likes that idea very much," she whispered. "If it makes you feel better Gibbs, you should come with us. You can be right at our side and say that you're my father."

John snorted. "Or you know, someone from the network if you don't want to be her father."

"I don't like suits," the man grumbled. "Besides, Callen, Hanna, Blye and Ronon will be in your eye sight at all times, and Murray, myself and Tomin will be making sure everything is safe apart from your little bubble. Nell will be monitoring the feeds. Safe."

"You're saying you don't want to play house?" she joked.

"I'm already playing house with you and you're the most irresponsible children I've ever had."

"We love you too Dad!"

"Yeah yeah... fresh pot of coffee is ready."

Aracely sat thoughtfully. "I have a couple different dresses that would be nice. Are you up for a little fashion show and you can pick?" she whispered in John's ear.

He chuckled. "Sure," he kissed her tenderly and helped her off the couch. "I'm going to get some coffee and attack that stack of ugly mugs with a sharpie before Teyla decides to drop by and spread the chicken pox."

"Bring them with you. You can work on them while I show the dresses off for you," she said as she made her way back upstairs to get the garment bags from one of the extra closets.

"You two behave now," Banks grinned as John grabbed a coffee and half of the pile of head shots before following Ace upstairs, ignoring the remark.

When John walked into the bedroom, Aracely was in the bathroom changing for him. "Just sit back and relax. I'll be out in a minute," she called.

John sighed as he put the coffee on the night stand and sat down to sign some pictures as he waited. "Nothing too sexy!"

"Is floor length too sexy for you?" she asked, a grin in her voice.

"Floor length is exactly right, how about a nun's outfit?"

"I think our activities the other night would be not be good for that. I may not go to church but I wouldn't desecrate something like that. What do you think?" she asked as she stepped out in the first dress.

He admitted that she looked good, but didn't like the sleeves on that dress. "I don't like the sleeves."

"Well I thought it might be safe as we're supposed to be just friends," she smiled.

"Maybe a little too safe?" He smiled. "That dress makes you look like we're really covering it up."

Aracely rolled her eyes as she went back into the bathroom and changed out. She stepped out in the next one and twirled for him. "Is this too much for you?"

"Oh! I like that one!" He nodded. "It's totally you."

"I still have two more," she winked as she went back and changed. The third one she rather liked as she came out and posed for him.

"I like that one too... but won't your top like... fall off or something?"

"No. Not unless someone is trying to _pull_ it off," she said. She went and changed into the last dress and came back out. "And this?"

John swallowed hard and managed to shake his head. "Uhm... that's not a friendly date dress..." She looked hot in that, with a great cleavage and fit just absolutely perfect.

"Really?" she asked as she looked down and brought her hands up to adjust her breasts. "I think its great."

"No... it's not great... yes it's a great dress and yes you look so hot in that... but..." He shook his head. "Dress two or dress three... not this sexy thing!"

"Fine. I'll wear the light blue one," she laughed as she went to change to regular clothes. "We have results tonight. At least we won't have to dance again."

"I'm actually feeling a lot better than yesterday, must have been the sleep," John responded as he kept signing. "I don't feel like I have a clogged head or that I might throw up or anything, just some aches in my muscles which is normal, considering I danced my ass off."

Aracely walked back out wearing shorts and a sports shirt. "I still think that we should turn down the encore. I mean they already know that but it's just better safe. Don't want you to get too overworked either. If we survive tonight we have a whole new routine tomorrow to start learning."

"Yeah, sounds like a plan," John nodded.

She crawled up on the bed and settled in between his legs as she pulled the stack of photos away from him. "You, my dear, have something else that you need to go do first," she smiled.

"Oh yeah?" He pulled her against him and nuzzled her neck as his hand moved over her thigh.

"Take Banks with you and go to the doctor."

"I know..." John took a deep breath, loving the smell of her shampoo. "After lunch?"

"Well..." she said slowly. "I was kinda hoping that you would be able to bring lunch back with you. I really have been wanting some tacos from a place near the beach."

"Alright... I wanted to stop by my place anyway to pick up the suit for Thursday and some other things..." he moved his hand underneath her shirt, caressing her stomach softly.

"Because if you want this to go further, I want my new lolly pop first," she smirked, leaning up to kiss him. "I'll go tell Banks you'll be down soon!"

John sighed and nodded. "Fiiine!" He chuckled as he collected the photo's and returned them into a neat pile again and watched her go downstairs. He managed to find a pair of socks in his bag and pulled them on before going downstairs to get into his shoes.

"Let's get the lady her taco's," Banks grinned as he was standing in the hallway. "Anything else you need to do?"

"Yep," John nodded and grabbed his coat. "We have to go by my place too, and the doctor's office..."

"Road trip!" Banks cheered and opened the door for him.

"Bring him back in one piece, Banks," Gibbs warned him.

"Don't worry boss."

Once the guys were out in the car, Banks looked over at John. "Where do you want to go first? I assume Bumblebee's tacos are last."

"Then the hospital it is," John sighed as he strapped himself in. "I just need to ask Beckett a question."

The man didn't ask as he pulled out and onto the road. "The hospital it is then."

Beckett was easily found once they arrived at the hospital. "Oh Mr. Sheppard, now what?" The man sighed when he saw John. "Are you still feeling ill?"

"No, I'm doing better, thanks. I was just wondering if you saw anything special when you tested my blood."

The doc pulled John behind a curtain and looked at the man. "What do you mean?"

"Well, like STD's or something?"

"Why would you want to know, Mr. Sheppard? Do you sleep around much while not using protection?"

"Hell no, the only woman I've been with was my ex-wife, but we haven't been using anything and I found out she cheated so yeah..."

Beckett laughed. "Oh, I see! No, I haven't noticed anything out of the ordinary, but if you want me to I could let the lab run a specified test to check if you have any STD's or HIV, but nothing in the blood panel I've received back from Friday says that you aren't as healthy as a horse."

"That's all I wanted to know, thanks." John smiled widely.

"If you want to come have a seat. I'll be happy to take some blood and run some extra labs - no paperwork," the doctor said. "I will call you when they are all back then."

"Nah, that's okay, thank you for the offer though."

"You sure? Wouldn't you be happier knowing that you're completely free of worry?"

Sighing, John sat down in the chair. "Alright then." Beckett drew his blood and then John left to find Banks, who was waiting for him on the hallway. "Do you think we need to do food shopping too?" He asked.

"Might be a good idea to get enough to last more than a few days. I have to get some snacks to hide in the spare room for the other teams that take over. Callen and Hanna finished up all the cookies we got for everyone."

"Or you know... if you know how to bake, you could make them yourself." John pointed out and laughed.

"Eh. I'd probably lace it with laxatives," Banks joked. "Just to teach them to stop messing with my stuff."

"Yeah, not a good plan." They got back into the car. "Walmart it is, then my house and getting us all taco's for lunch."

"Wherever you want to go," he laughed and they set on with the rest of their tasks. The cashier at Wal-Mart nearly had a heart attack when the two guys went through the checkout. Not only was John Sheppard there, but they had two full carts nearly overflowing of food and other small things that were needed for Aracely's house, especially blank VHS tapes for the studio and tools to fix some of the things that needed fixing.

John was glad when they finally arrived back at Ace's place, car loaded with groceries and stuff that John needed from his house, smelling the car up with taco's. "Uhm... I'm going to worry about putting that away after lunch."

"Uh, I'm just concerned about the aftermath of lunch period. Think about it. A house full of guys and Mexican food?"

"Good thing this house has three bathrooms," John grinned and shrugged. "I've always handled Mexican food pretty well myself to be honest." He opened the door from the garage to the house and walked in. "Lunch!"

"It's about time," Aracely replied from the kitchen where she was busy playing a game of Operation with the next team. "What all did you get?" she asked, eying all the bags they started carrying in.

"Well, these are still hot taco's..." John said as he put the bag on the kitchen counter. "The car is loaded with a lot of groceries; we barely fit in ourselves."

"Please tell me that its not all freezer and fridge stuff. I mean it's not small, but it still has limitations," she laughed as she got up to get plates out.

"I'm great at packing things up in a freezer and fridge," Banks said and nodded. "Military training and all. Don't worry, it will fit."

"Uh huh," she glared playfully. "By all means. Just make sure you guys eat some too."

"Oh we're not even going to start on unpacking the car before we had some quality taco's!" Banks grinned. "All that shopping, it makes a man hungry!"

Banks worked a miracle underneath Ace's watchful gaze as he was stashing everything away neatly in the fridge, freezer and kitchen cupboards after lunch. John was sitting on the deck behind Ace's house with his laptop to write a little when he received an email from Rodney. "You. Set. Now. Did you forget you wrote a little Nick for this ep? Scheduled it for _today_ because it's your day_off_."

Ronon accompanied John as he went to the set of _Masterminds_ and did his little scenes in the office. One about "Jason" offering "Nick" a job as a full time consultant but "Nick" refused - John wrote that as a joke in multiple episodes until the season finale and one where "Nick" pointed out the obvious about the crime "Jason" was investigating before John arrived back at Acie's place, just in time to hoover up the remaining dinner and get to the TTL set for the results show.

John secretly loved it that he had been busy the entire day, if it hadn't been for the baby sitters, it would have been a perfectly normal day. He was even weirdly excited when basketball player Eli James had to quit the show and Ace was grinning from ear to ear on the way back. "I'm so curious what our dance has to be for next week! Especially after Aiden said it was going to be a non-ballroom dance that we have to make into one!"

Her excitement continued throughout the entire night, keeping them both up and he eventually decided to have sex with her, but forcing her to let him have his way with her by tying her wrists to the bed post with some of her scarfs. When he had made her climax numerous of times by taking things slow but intense, she eventually drifted off in a blissful sleep.

The next morning, however, things started right back at the beginning. Ace seemed to be on a sugar rush when she started jumping on the bed to wake him up - this time without a camera crew but with a lot more squealing and in her night gown.

"Country! Of course, we're not going to take the easy way out, that's what they'll expect us to because there are a lot of line dances that you can do with a partner... although The Sway _is_ beautiful but no, we're going to do something entirely different! Meet you in the studio in 30 minutes. Shave, get dressed, food and let's do this!"

He managed to grab her before she jumped off the bed and pulled him down on to the bed with him. John softly kissed her and held her close. "Good morning..." he muttered and pulled the covers back over them. "Just a couple more minutes."

Aracely let out a yelp as she was pulled down in surprise. She shifted under the blanket so that she was laying over his body, her hands folding under her chin on his chest as she smiled. "We have a lot of work to catch up but ten more minutes might be doable," she smiled, watching him struggle for those last few minutes of rest with his eyes closed.

"Stop wiggling," John chuckled and shook his head. "I need to pee!" He carefully pushed her off of him and rushed out of the bed to go to the bathroom. "You know, if you'd just have laid still, I would have lasted for... oh 30 more minutes?"

"It's not my fault you have a weak bladder," she laughed as she laid in bed watching him run off. "Maybe we should have you in a diaper?"

"Funny." He peeked around the corner after he was done. "I'm up, see? I'll clean myself up and I will need some coffee, but then you can do anything you want with me."

Aracely's eyebrow rose curiously. "_Anything_? Oh - the possibilities..."

"Just... don't make me dance in just shorts and a shirt again."

"How about nothing at all?" she asked, sitting up and eyeing him up and down. "Of course it would be a _private_ show."

"And the other minute you said we had a lot of work to do," he replied with a smirk on his face.

"And we do! Now get dressed. Gibbs brought coffee and doughnuts from the bakery up the street. You know the one with those yummy custard filled ones?" Aracely said as she bounced off the bed and went over to his bag to pull out pants for him. "You need to unpack. Why are you still living out of your suitcase?"

John shrugged as he got back into the room. "For the last months I have been living out of boxes. Suitcase, boxes... it's all the same."

She didn't say anything but let out a hum before setting the clothes on the bed. "I'll be downstairs waiting," she smiled at him and left the room somewhat distractedly.

He got dressed, shaved and brushed his teeth before he went downstairs, and frowned when he saw Banks on his laptop. "Morning..."

"Morning!" Banks replied cheerfully and handed John his laptop. "Sorry, Ms. Emmagan called us this morning to check something out in your email box and since you said we could do anything..."

John shrugged. "As long as you didn't delete any of the files in my work folder..."

"No, of course not."

John opened the fridge and started to make sandwiches. Even though those donuts were looking good, he wanted to have a turkey sandwich.

"Something suspicious came in again?" Aracely asked as she leaned against the counter sipping her coffee, looking over at Banks.

"Ah, no, Ms. Emmagan thought it was something suspicious but she's even more paranoid than the boss." Banks chuckled. "It was just a spam email... unless you want a set of extra sharp knives that carve through walls, or Viagra... though I doubt you need that."

She couldn't help but to chuckle. "Sometimes it's rather amusing to see what goes into the spam box. Makes you wonder how bored people are to come up with that stuff."

Banks shrugged. "People need jobs, and companies find interesting ways to scam money by using said people for them to send out spam."

John took his laptop, coffee and sandwich to the living room and started to read up on his emails. By the amount of emails he had received from Rodney, John knew that he and Aracely had to work harder than the previous weeks for John to do everything Rodney needed him to do. There wasn't just the awards show on Thursday, but he also had to show his face on set on Friday for a couple of hours, and talk with the writers about the new course. John also needed to fix a few scripts still and he really had to find the time to do that because he didn't want to botch it all up.

***ShepFlight1:** Morning twitter world. Is cloning possible? I need two or three of me, at least.

***AcieMoe:** *ShepFlight1 Nope, sorry. Get off your ass and get downstairs. I got some steps for the routine ready to run through.

***ShepFlight1:** *AcieMoe Easy! coffee's not finished and I'm still chewing and checking mail. #slavedriver

***AcieMoe:** *ShepFlight1 Excuses, excuses. Hurry up. We have too much to do and we lose a day with your award show tomorrow.

***ShepFlight1:** *AcieMoe Good, I didn't tell you about Friday yet.

"What about Friday?" Aracely yelled up the stairs from the basement studio.

John could hear Banks and Hanna snicker from behind him. "Nothing honey! On my way down now!" He closed his laptop and took his coffee with him towards the studio with a big goofy grin on his face. "Nothing!"

"You're a bad liar," she replied, crossing her arms as she stood in the middle of the floor. "What's happening on Friday?"

"Rodney needs me, and I have a meeting with the writers."

Aracely frowned. "Can I come?"

"It'll be very very boring."

"Not unless you get them to write me in again," she smiled sweetly as she took slow steps up to him. "I think it could be fun."

"Well it's probably a lot of talk about me fixing the rest of the scripts for this season, and then help them set up next season's arches. If you're seriously considering giving up on TTL and do _Masterminds_ instead, I need to know. But you need to be absolutely certain of this decision. Don't let anyone push you into doing something you might not really want to do."

She sighed and shrugged a shoulder. "I don't think I'd mind really. I had always been open to trying new things and as long as I got to stay with you like last time, I am certainly willing. I don't think the producers of TTL will mind too much after all this drama if I chose to back down after this season."

"Then you and I need to sit down together and think of stuff for your character too," John smiled and kissed her when she got to him. "So that she's exactly who you and I want her to be before I give the writers more freedom than I have given them in the past few seasons."

"We will discuss it later, in bed. Let's get to work in the meanwhile. Today is going to be _long_. I don't really want to take breaks if we don't absolutely need it as we're getting a late start and tomorrow is travel and prep for your award show," she said, her hand fisting his shirt as she pulled him with her to the center of the floor. 


	15. Chapter 15

John was up early on Thursday, feeling sore due to the hours of dancing on the previous day. He had taken his laptop and coffee to the back porch and quietly worked on a few scripts while he watched the sun rise. He had admit, he was missing his own house, missing the beach despite only have lived there for a few months by himself.

He missed the freedom he had until this craziness started, it was hard on him to be constantly surrounded by security people, even though they left him - and Ace - alone as much as they could but it was still hard.

John wasn't sure about _Masterminds_ at this point either, he still had to get used to the fact that as of next season, he'd be one of the main characters and trust that all the things behind the scenes, such as the writing and Rodney's leadership would pan out all right. Of course, he had always the voice to say 'absolutely not' and he would probably be saying that many times, but it was weird.

And then his brother... he hadn't spoken to his brother after he had attacked him and Ace. Part of John didn't want to talk to his brother, but there was this other part of him that he wanted to talk to him, even just over the phone. Sure, it was a bad idea, especially because Dave always made him feel bad, but John wanted to know how he was doing.

He looked at his phone and dialled Dave's number.

"Sheppard."

"Hi Dave... it's me..."

"What do you want?"

John winced. His brother didn't sound all too happy. "I was just wondering how you were doing, are you okay?"

"Oh, it's little Johnny, little sensitive Johnny, asking about his brother," Dave answered mockingly. "I don't want to talk to you, punk. I hope you get what you deserve."

He frowned when the line went dead on the other end and sighed. It was expected, but John hadn't realized that it'd hurt this bad. Putting his phone away he tried to keep concentrating on the work he had been doing but he felt like wanting to dig out his sneakers and go for a very long run to run off the sudden onset of feeling miserable.

Then again, he wasn't too sure about running. Maybe rent a chopper for a couple of hours and just fly aimlessly. That would be fun, a lot of fun... he grinned as he opened up his inbox and started to type up an email to the writers of _Masterminds_ and sent off a copy to Rodney as well. '_More information tomorrow, in the mean time... Nick steals a helicopter, what for? - John_'

'_Yes, blow the budget!_' Rodney responded a few minutes later, which made John laugh so hard that his insides started to hurt.

'_At least you won't have to hire a pilot_' John wrote back, hiccuping.

'_Are you kidding me? Insurance people will freak out, no way. See what you come up with and then let me decide! Blowing our budget is great stuff, went to see the pyrotechnics test for the season finale, it was AWESOME!_'

***ShepFlight1:** Word on the street is that at least the visual effects and stunts on our season finale are going to be awesome. Can't wait. #Masterminds  
><strong>*ShepFlight1:<strong> No dancing today (I hope), award show later today. Feeling not so sick anymore.

***AcieMoe:** *ShepFlight1 I do not know what to say to that...

***ShepFlight1:** *AcieMoe Legs! Cramp! #goodmorning!

***AcieMoe:** Someone remind me to schedule an 18 hour practice session for each of the next three days please?

***BetterThanTheCar:** *AcieMoe if you work through out the night, it's easy

***ShepFlight1:** ...  
><strong>*ShepFlight1:<strong> *AcieMoe *BetterThanTheCar does that mean she's going to make me dance on the masterminds set again?

***BetterThanTheCar:** *ShepFlight1 Now now, you should know better by now, don't give *AcieMoe ideas!

Deciding that his coffee was too cold to drink, he brought his stuff back inside and started to make a bunch of sandwiches. Life was really getting too repetitive and confined, and he missed his guitar too. He quietly sat down at the kitchen counter with a new fresh cup of coffee and munched on a sandwich while he opened his laptop again.

Coming down from the bedroom, Aracely walked casually, her plush robe wrapped around her as she had her hands shoved in its pockets and looked at John when she stopped in the doorway. Her fingers played with her cell phone in the pocket, tempted to do something - but she did not know what.

"Good morning..." John said, not looking up from his laptop and handing over a sandwich. "I think I'm almost done re-writing these scripts the way Rodney wants them and that they still are awesome."

"Are they?" she asked casually, heading over to her juicer machine to set it up. Pulling out a bag of oranges, cutting board, and a very large, sharp knife, she slowly started to work on making herself her own breakfast.

"No, they're probably crap." John sighed, "I've been... never mind, we'll see if they're awesome or crap. Did you sleep well?"

The blade of the knife slammed down through the fruit before she answered. "I slept very well. How about you?"

He shrugged. "Was up early, but I think so." John then looked at her with a big smile. "Hey, can we do something fun for a couple of hours today? Hell, I wouldn't even mind if TTL tags along for the show, but I want to … get out. Maybe visit sick children in a hospital unannounced?"

"What time do we have to be at your award show tonight?" Aracely asked, genuinely interested. "I know there is a Habitat for Humanity event going on right now as well. I can call my friend to see if he could get us in there too."

"Seven ish? I think?" John shrugged as he ran his hand through his hair. "It's usually around seven, right?" he started to look on his laptop to see if Teyla sent him the details. "And Habitat for Humanity sounds great."

Looking at the clock as she reached over for the phone to call her friend, speaking over the sound of the juicer. By the time she hung up she finally managed to get one glass of orange juice squeezed out. "He said if we can get to the site within an hour, we're more then welcome to help out."

"Great!" He cheered as he closed his laptop and ran upstairs to get dressed. The sooner he could do something other than dancing or writing or whatever, the better.

"What is he on about?" Tomin walked into the kitchen, munching on a breakfast burrito.

"We're going to a Habitat for Humanity site. You coming?" she asked, sipping her juice happily before popping in a slice of toast to hold her over as she had the full intention of stopping for bagels and coffee on the way.

"Kinda have to, don't I?" He grinned and sat down on one of the chairs. "How many people will there be there?"

"Not a clue but Matt is pretty strict on who he lets on the lots he runs. He said that today and tomorrow they only have their regular volunteers and the family that's going to be living in it working so anyone else shouldn't be lingering about. I have to call the film crew to stop in after lunch for an hour or so just because we have to. You know the show's contract about public events like that," she said, opting to shoot their regular cameraman, Tim, a text instead as they had previously set up an arrangement. He understood their situation and gave his number to contact when it was a good time to get his bit done and for that she was grateful.

"Right. I'll go and poke Murray and Banks into coming with," Tomin nodded and walked back into the living room.

John quickly got dressed into his ripped pair of jeans and a shirt, brushed his teeth and ran back downstairs again, stopping dead in his tracks when he saw Aracely. "Why aren't you dressed yet?"

"Because I hadn't finished my juice yet," she replied, laughing at the sight of him. "Just give me a minute. We'll leave soon. Don't worry. I know you don't want to do any rehearsing today but do try not to overdo yourself when we get there. I need you breathing the rest of the weekend. We do not have much time to get this routine down at all so it will be _long_ days after this."

"After tomorrow, you mean," He sat down and reached for his coffee that was still standing next to his laptop. "I'll be good, I promise."

"No..." Aracely said slowly. "We have to do _something_ tomorrow which is partly why I wanted to go with you to the studio. That way when you get your breaks there, we can get some steps done. Two days is not enough time for a full routine and we need to come back strong from this week or at least stay consistent."

"Alright, alright..." John sighed. "You can come with."

"Good," she nodded with satisfaction. "I'll be back down shortly then," she added before walking out and shuffling her slippered feet along the hard wood floor up to her bedroom to change.

It wasn't long before the group left the house and a large argument over stopping for food and coffee ensued, with Aracely winning over their body guards, but they insisted on having a taste first. Matt was more than happy to have two extra hands, no matter their limitations. Keeping the children entertained was just as important as working with a hammer and nails.

He loved spending time on the Habitat for Humanity site, carrying heavy stuff - until Aracely shot him a glare that possibly meant that she'd kill him - and interacting with the other volunteers and played soccer with the little kids of the family that were going to live in the house.

After a couple of hours, they went back to Aracely's home, and John started to work on an early dinner for everyone present in the house while humming a tune that had been stuck in his head all day. It was quite catchy, but he wasn't sure if he had heard it before.

Wearing only her underwear and her robe, Aracely had taken a long hot shower after their day and was semi in the process of getting prepared for the show but did not want to have to put her gown on and it get dirty or wrinkled while they waited for the limousine from the show to come pick them up.

"Dinner's almost ready." John smiled as he saw Aracely walk into the kitchen knowing she wore next to nothing underneath.

"Great. What are we having?" she grinned as she came up behind and wrapped her arms around him.

"Chicken stir-fry," John answered. "Oh you smell good too!"

"We may end up needing another shower after we eat just so that we don't smell like our dinner. How much spice did you put in that?" she asked after sneaking a piece of pepper out of the pan.

"Enough," he chuckled and softly kissed her. "See? That's why I haven't taken a shower yet so that I can eat anyway I want to...in case there's a case of spillage."

Aracely scrunched up her face. "Yeah, I thought you smelled kinda funny. Come on. I'm hungry!" she replied, spanking his butt before heading over to pull out the dishes so they could eat.

***TeylaEmmagan:** *ShepFlight1 Don't forget to shave!

***OfficialMind:** #Masterminds is up for a few awards tonight at the Prime Time Scripted TV Show awards, one of them being for Best Writer (cont)  
><strong>*OfficialMind:<strong> for the ep "Switching Sides" written by our very own *ShepFlight1!

***BugSpray:** *ShepFlight1 check your email... or whatever, whenever. #neglectedfriend

Aracely sat quietly at the table as she eyed the computer screen that had very nearly never left John's side since they returned to the house that evening. "Are you going to call your friend?" she asked softly.

"No, not until she stops making these stupid 'jokes' in her webseries. No one is getting them but me."

"What jokes?"

"In jokes about my life, Nancy... Dave..." John sighed. "She wants my attention, but she never asks how I'm doing."

She nodded slowly, understanding. "I can make arrangements to kick her ass for you if you would like. It's not just you its affecting now. We are in this together now, the good and bad. Are we not?"

"Yeah, but this isn't really affecting me. She's subtle. If she stops being subtle, she knows I can do the same thing to her on a bigger scale," He chuckled. "But it's not really nice of her for all that I have done for her, I guess it's a bit clearer to me now who my real friends are."

Closing the lid to the computer, she smiled up at him. "There. She's gone - for awhile right now. No more computer until we get through this show but I do not believe that you will want to go back on that thing later. Let's eat and get ready."

"You know, this morning sucked, then I had a great day and now it sort of sucks again. I like roller coasters but this is insane." John said as he filled up their plates. "Hey guys, food's ready!" He called out.

"It happens. You're at a point where you need to make choices for yourself that you never had to before. There is nothing wrong with that and many of them will be hard. But it is _your_ life. When you have the time, if you want, just call her and ask her to stop contacting you. It may suck for awhile but in the end, it's what needs to be done," Aracely shared, hoping he would come around.

He sat down again and started to eat his food. "I appreciate you trying, but please stop trying to make me feel better, it's depressing." Oh how he wanted to stop it all, right now. Walk out on everything just so that he would be able to be free again, to do whatever he wanted. In a way, TTL had been the worst thing that could have happened, but also the best thing and it was that he didn't want to upset anyone, but he would have dropped Masterminds in a heartbeat.

Sighing, she said nothing else, silently eating her dinner that she no longer felt a hunger for. When she was done, she simply left the table to put her plate in the sink and returned to her room, closing the door behind her for privacy and to just be alone.

"Right, I want to go for a run," John said as he shoved his plate aside. "Which one of you is going to join me?"

"We'll be late."

"Just a couple laps around the block, Murray. I'm going with you or without you, it's your choice."

"You're not going anywhere," Gibbs said as he walked into the kitchen. "We've got everything set up for tonight, and you're not going to mess up the schedule. Go upstairs and take a shower, get ready. The car is going to be here in 30 minutes. If you're going to take that run now, you will be on your own. If you continue being uncooperative, we can't work with you to keep you safe. If you don't want to be kept safe, we will only be keeping Aracely safe. Pull your head out of your ass and go upstairs."

John didn't say anything when he took the stairs and went into the bathroom to take a shower. It was going to be a long and tiresome night as he had to put his game face on. God forbid he'd actually win something, he didn't have anything prepared at all. He turned on the shower and set it to cold after stripping out of his clothes and just let the water cool off his body.

Aracely still felt _off_ after she finished getting ready, keeping her hair and make up simple, somewhat regretting offering to go with John. It wasn't his fault but the way he had spoken, hurt her deeply because she was just as much of a target as he was in all this. She did not enjoy having so many people coming through her home that she worked hard for. Pacing the floor, her hands and arms in elbow length gloves that matched her dress were tense as she waited, feeling anxious and irritable.

John dried himself off and went over to the sink to shave, and then had a stupid idea of just showing up in jeans, unshaven. It'd certainly get the attention Hammond wanted, probably just not the good kind. He nearly nicked himself as he was finishing up and walked into the bedroom, wearing only his shorts, finding Aracely in her dress. "Wow, you look..."

"I look...?" she prompted, very little enthusiasm in her voice. She tried to sound even tempered but she was upset with him yet. "I look like as if my going is a big mistake."

"You look absolutely stunning, and if you feel like that, you should stay here." John pointed out as he manhandled his suit off the clothing hook.

"I also said that I would go. You need someone with you to get through it as well," she pointed out, uncertainty about everything striking her at possibly the worst time. Aracely carefully sat on the bed, facing the door, trying to quell down the sense of fear that filled her.

"If you don't feel like going, then stay home," John looked at her as he got into the pants. "Seriously, I want you to do what _you_want. I'll be pretending I'm okay with everything anyway the second I leave that car, I'll just have to try a little harder to appear sane," He smiled and nearly toppled over. "But for the record, you look amazing."

"I want to be with you but you are not making it easy," Aracely let out as she turned her head to look back at him. "I have been so proud of you and only want you to be happy. But - you're not."

"You make me happy," he answered as he sat down on the bed to pull on his socks. "You do, you really do. Right now, I'm not, no... but that's not your fault. I'm having sort of a weird day today, and it's my own fault." John got up and softly kissed Aracely. "I'll be fine out there, indulge yourself with some nice snacks, a glass of wine and laze about on the couch, if you want to, you deserve it." He reached for his dress shirt and started to put it on. "Or go to a spa, they're open in the evenings, aren't they?"

"I'm all dressed up now. I want to go with you," she sighed. "I just wish I could know a way to fix everything for you. You do not deserve this stress."

"Well, neither do you." John said and left a few buttons open at the top of his shirt, he hated feeling all confined and should Rodney insist on having Nick dress more like Mike on _Masterminds_, then it'd be on his own terms. "Ace, I have social issues, I know that I let people walk over me as if I'm a doormat, but I'm getting there. All thanks to you. You don't need to do more, you're doing enough." He reached for his jacket. "All other things that come with change, I'll have to deal with it my own way and you can't help me with that, but I love you for trying."

Aracely looked at him for a long moment before nodding. "Okay then. Are you ready? I really want to see you win tonight," she grinned.

John opened his suitcase and got his brand new sneakers out of it before putting them on. "Oh I so hope that we don't win... I have absolutely nothing prepared."

"And that is when you do win," she laughed. "Just thank the cast, crew, and fans and you're covered. Simple, yes?"

"Very," he chuckled and kissed her tenderly. "Let's go kick some ass."


	16. Chapter 16

While they were in the car, Gibbs went over the security with them one more time. He and Banks would be accompanying Aracely and John on the carpet, with Blye acting as a PR person for _Masterminds_, while the rest of them worked out of sight.

John realized that he was more afraid of the carpet thing than getting up on stage should the show win something in the categories they were nominated in. Apart from Best Writer, there was Best Lead Actor - John knew that Jack was nominated and that he'd be there -, Best TV Show and Best Director - Damien Wood was nominated for directing "A Diamond In The Rough", John remembered how much fun he had writing that script as it was a little unusual for the series to keep things fresh. He wasn't sure if Damien was attending.

"John, any requests on how I should handle the press for you?" Kensi asked as they were about to park the car.

"Limit it to _Masterminds_ and _Toe__The__Line_, please," John answered.

Aracely sat back beside him in the limo, anxious as she had previously turned down any red carpet event she had been invited to. "And anything regarding our relationship is friends only of course," she added.

"Of course. Personal life is off limits." Kensi smiled as she put her long hair up again.

"Remember not to take food or drinks from anyone other than us," Gibbs added as he looked at Aracely, remembering that she had given Tomin, Murray and Banks grief over it earlier in the day, and had _won_. "I won't give in as easily as they did."

"Yes," she rolled her eyes. "Your first objective then is to keep me stocked on champagne or something. If only to keep me from bouncing off the walls tonight."

"You'll be fine," Banks smiled. "You've got us watching your back!"

She turned her head to look at him with steel in her eyes. "Do not start with me. You will lose."

"Verbally, maybe. Physically, nope, you will." Banks nodded and stuck out his tongue to her.

"We'll see about that," she commented before leaning back up against John's arm.

"If anyone's going to physically wrestle Aracely to the ground, it's going to be me," John said and then got out of the car, holding his hand out so he could help Aracely get out of the car too, he knew that it must be difficult to exit a car graciously wearing a dress, but then again, Aracely was a dancer and she was the embodiment of grace.

"Thank you," she smiled up at him as she took his hand getting out of the limo. As they had planned, she released his hand, dropping her hands to smooth out her dress and wrapped her arm around his casually. If they held their hands _too_ long, they could easily be outed far quickly than they would have liked. "Here goes..."

"Just breathe," John smiled at her as his eyes were getting used to flashing cameras. He pulled his arm closer to his body, so that even though they looked _casual_, he could still feel her presence next to him, like some sort of security blanket.

"This is almost as bad as the media walk on results night," Aracely grimaced. "How do we do this? Just start down one side or do they make you jump from one side to the other?"

"Oh no, we're just going to walk through this, slowly with big smiles on our faces and then tumble into camera's and microphones that we do have to take our time for... of course, if there are fans crammed inside of this madness, then we'll approach them and sign whatever they want." John grinned. "Fans are good."

"Of course they are. The show wouldn't be without them," she laughed as they made their way down. "And look there - you are being waved down right now..."

John followed Aracely's line of sight to two girls standing squashed between big guys with big camera's. He started to walk towards them as they looked familiar and smiled. "Hello ladies, how are you?"

"John Sheppard! Don't you look fabulous!"

"Thank you, Alicia, so do you," John replied. "What can I do for you?"

"We were just wondering if you can give us any spoilers for the rest of the season or next of _Masterminds_. The last few episodes that aired has received a lot of talk online and in the news so the fans are curious as to what else is in store," Alicia Vega from Star Gates Entertainment asked, batting her eyes at him.

"Ah... well you know I can't tell you about spoilers," John laughed. "But I've heard that the pyrotechnics for the episode they're filming next week, the season finale, are awesome."

"Ah, please? We've always been good to you!" Anne Teldy, of the same magazine, laughed.

"That you have, but you know the rules," he shrugged.

"Someone posted an online poll about your character Nick a few weeks ago, it was very detailed and about wanting him to show up more often on the show, did you see it?"

John thought for a second and realized that he had used the same name as the little piece of 'fan-fiction' he had written for the show and couldn't out himself. "I have. It's always great to see how involved fans are with the show, it's very humbling and flattering. Well I suppose I could tell you that you're going to see a lot more of Nick in the coming weeks, and very possibly next season, but then again, I can't promise you anything," he said playfully.

Aracely had stayed back, out of camera view listening and trying not to laugh. If everyone knew that when they weren't rehearsing or doing other work related projects, just how much he actually did check out the fans' discussions and polls. Kensi was standing nearby when she made her way over to her and was handed a bottle of water with an apology for not being what she requested. "No alcohol on the carpet. Tried," Kensi offered.

"It's alright. I'm having enough fun just listening to the interviews around us. It's the same but different from the usual media walks we go through," Ace commented.

"Yeah? How's that? Does he need rescuing?"

"You're a tease, John Sheppard," Alicia laughed. "It's a damn shame you're still single."

"Are you kidding me? I love it!" John grinned. "Have a nice time ladies, I think I'd better move on before my buff PR lady drags me away... that would be very unmanly."

"Maybe we can meet up later and talk more?" Anne asked, hopeful, her voice turning to something less professional.

"We'll see," John said and pointed at Kensi. "She's very strict, you see." He gave them a small wave and walked back to Aracely.

Grinning, Aracely shook her head when he was back at her side and they walked on. "That was - interesting," she said. "I think they both would have clubbed you over the head and dragged you out of here if they could."

"Nah, they're mostly harmless, although I wouldn't want to meet them alone in a dark alley," he chuckled and looked at Kensi. "I'm going to use you as an excuse the rest of the walk."

"Oh gee, thanks!" Kensi remarked. "Remind me to slap you over the head when we're back home!"

"I'll slap him around for you. We have three straight days of work to do for Monday night," Aracely replied devilishly.

"Oh, you can make him work harder, that is a far better punishment than getting slapped around!"

"I'm still here, you know." John looked at the two women. "You actually make it sound like I'm going to enjoy myself _very_ much the next three days."

"Oh you will. I'll make sure of it," Aracely grinned, pinching his cheek playfully. "You will need all the rest you can get tonight."

Kensi pointed towards the Entertainment Daily crew. "They keep waving. Make your way over. Scoot!"

John smiled but let out a small groan. "Let's get this over with," he sighed.

Aracely pushed him on as the group followed along at a comfortable but safe distance. It was her own turn to grumble when the person started calling out her name as well as John's. "Do I have to?"

"Apparently you do, I believe you're one of those professional dancers on this celebrity dance show," Kensi replied. "And that gorgeous guy is your partner, so I think they want to talk about the show."

She rolled her eyes at the woman before stepping up onto the platform and took a place next to John. "Hello," she greeted, shooting him a tense glance.

"Hi!" the female journalist greeted her with a big smile. "I know that this show is about scripted things, but I was just wondering how you two feel about being almost half way towards victory on _Toe__The__Line_?"

"Well, right now we just look forward through getting through each week. If we make it to finals, then it's only a bonus," Aracely answered with a shrug. "But John is doing a great job and I can't wait to see what else I can get him to do on the floor."

"You've been dealing with a lot of setbacks recently, illness and other issues, did you never think about withdrawing from the competition and rest up?"

"No, I mean, Aracely is very competitive and has infected me with the same enthusiasm. We're just not allowing ourselves to quit just because one of us is sick or injured. To be honest, the last few weeks made me realize how strong a human body actually is and how far I can push myself."

"Out of all the dancers still on the show, who do you think can beat you to the trophy?"

"I think they're all good," John remarked.

"I'd love to have a Rumba-off with Cameron Mitchell and his partner," Aracely said playfully. "They've been a few points behind us every week and they are amazing. Cameron is great at the Rumba, but I'm better."

"Well, if the chemistry that the judges keep mentioning between the two of you is anything to say, I believe that you two would rock out at such an intimate dance. I know you recently are single John, have you ever considered asking your partner out on a date now?"

"Nope, but we have dinner every night after rehearsal," John shook his head, looking over Ace's shoulder.

"Either change the subject or this interview is over. Thanks," Kensi said with a pleasant smile.

Aracely raised an eyebrow as the interviewer shifted uncomfortably. "You know, it's getting pretty cold out here, is it not?" she smiled warmly.

"Yep, let's keep moving," Kensi nodded and blocked the view of the interviewer while she nodded her head towards the entrance. There was still a long way to go before they'd get there, but anything to move this along.

They did a couple of more interviews before there was a small space cornered off for fans, right before the entrance of the building. John was already growing tired of pretending to be in a happy place - although he had fun with it with some reporters - and all he wanted was just to go inside and deflate before the live show began. "Oh!" John fumbled his phone out of his pocket and quickly took a picture of him and Ace. "Need to post that on twitter." He grinned at Ace, who was looking at him in a confused way.

"I thought I took away your phone."

"I took it back," John chuckled. "You need to find better hiding places."

"Then you need to make it your wallpaper, and send me a copy so I can as well," she grinned up at him, raising her left eyebrow just slightly for him to notice in his closeness at her suggestiveness.

"And look ma, this is me and John at the prom!" he snickered. "He was so cheap, he didn't even get me a corsage!"

"You know, this is probably as close as I'd get to prom. I was home schooled on the road because I spent so much time traveling for competition and training," she said seriously, poking him in his side.

"If it makes you feel any better, I missed mine and made Nancy miss hers... I puked all over the limo on the way to school," he smiled and scanned the crowd of fans for some familiar faces, there was a fan run website about _Masterminds_ out there and he loved those girls and would gladly talk to them, if only he could recognize them. For some reason faces started to blend together. "Also, if I don't get to meet Kathi tonight, I'll email her for a Skype thing."

"Kathi?" Aracely asked, confused.

"Webmistress of masterartistagent.com, great fan website with just facts about the show, no personal stuff at all."

She nodded, impressed and pleased that there was actually some group at the show that night he was interested in finding. "Maybe we can have one of our babysitters go and ask around to see where they might be if they managed to get a spot?"

"I don't think she's here though, because she's from out of state... wait, I have a phone." John opened the twitter application.

"You have this girl's information? Should I be jealous?" Aracely joked as she peered over his arm at his phone.

*******ShepFlight****1:** at the awards thing with *AcieMoe, she looks gorgeous! [twitpic]

*******ShepFlight****1:** Hey *kathimistress, if you're around, uhh... waving doesn't help right now.

*******ShepFlight****1:** *kathimistress start singing? #WantingToDoRealInterview

*******kathimistress****:** *ShepFlight1 You're actually tweeting me? Excuse me while I flail.

While John tweeted with one of his fans, she looked up and around the carpet to see if she could see anyone on their cell phone, responding. Problem was that most of the reporters that did not have some face with them, or talking to their cameras, they were on their phones. "This is not going to be easy to track this group down."

*******ShepFlight****1:** *kathimistress Okay, I have a few buddies walking around in the crowd, they have this fancy earpiece. Go bug them, tell them I told you to bug them and let them bring you inside

*******Kathimistress****:** *ShepFlight1 Wait what?

*******ShepFlight****1:** *Kathimistress what?

*******Kathimistress****:** *ShepFlight1 Ohh... wait... *meekobb and *toomuchbuggy are there, I couldn't make it #deeplysorry

"Oh..." John chuckled. "This is going to be awesome, these girls are amazing. They're writers, and sent me a couple of their children's books to donate to schools here."

*******ShepFlight****1:** Attention to *meekobb and *toomuchbuggy, I know you're around. If you have your book on you, present it so I can come over and hug you. #givesgoodhugs

*******TeylaEmmagan****:** Oh dear, *ShepFlight1 is in a hugging mood! Looking great!

*******toomuchbuggy****:** *ShepFlight1 We're near the door, and you're... barely insight. #wantshugs!

*******meekobb****:** *toomuchbuggy *ShepFlight1 Me first! After a few questions about the show of course! #needstodigoutcamera #excited

"Great." John grinned as he put his phone back in his pocket, and then looked serious. "You must be getting cold, Ace, want to go inside?"

"I'm fine," she replied, her cheeks a little rosey from the coolness in the air. While it wasn't _cold_ by many standards, it was cooler than most Los Angeles nights. "Let's find your Twitter friends. You really _should_ give them a little something at least if they truly avoid personal details as much as possible."

"Oh I will, but I can't really tell them that there's a great possibility that you'll join the show, can I? I mean... have you told your agent?"

"Eh. I been thinking of getting a new one anyway. Mister Hammond would still be the only one that could let me out of my contract with TTL for your show no matter who I have," she sighed.

"You told me you only signed for a year?"

Aracely nodded. "One year is two seasons. Fall and spring. I do not wish to remain for the second half. That is when you film a great deal of your early season episodes as well, is it not?"

"Yep, okay we'll talk to him tomorrow..." John started to think. "Oh, the chopper! You don't even know about that."

Her eyes grew large as she looked back up at him. "Do I _want_ to know?" she asked, praying it was not what she was thinking.

"Well, I called... anyway, I had this great idea that Nick could steal a helicopter for something... don't worry, Rodney's probably not going to allow me to fly it. Gave the writers a heads up and we'll see what they come up with."

"I don't want anything to do with that event. I think they will approve it if it meant they'd get to keep you on as a regular."

"Oh they'll approve, I'll just not be able to fly... insurance and all that," John smiled when he saw two ladies with a children's book near the door. "Hello," he said playfully. "How are you?"

The girl with darker hair fell silent from whatever she had been saying to her friend and nudged the other sharply in her side repeatedly. "Anna...he's here...Anna...Anna..."

"Stop stabbing me, you evil woman!" Anna playfully hit the other girl over the head with the book. "I'm sorry, John," she smiled at him. "We're just a bit in shock that you actually sought us out."

"That's okay," he chuckled. "Why wouldn't I be seeking you out? I like the format of the website Kathi's running, I'm just a little shocked that you two lovely writers are helping her out with it."

"Oh, yeah, we're silent partners." Anna nodded. "Our literary agent forbade us to engage in any thing not-related to our books online, in case we might do something that can compromise our success... or something like that."

"Oh I hear you! We're in the same boat."

"So uh - uh -," Geri stammered, flipping through a small pocket notepad she had with her, looking for something. "I had questions written down in case we had this chance - but I never thought...Oh shit!" she let out when she dropped it and it got kicked across the floor by security who wasn't paying attention.

"I'll get it," John grinned and got the notebook from the floor. "Let's see... oh geez, are these the questions you came up with?" He looked at one of the pages, there must have been at least twenty questions there. "I like them all! Alright, let's do the first five, and you can send an email and I'll record a video to put on the website, how's that?"

"Aren't you like... busy?" Anna asked with an incredulous look on her face.

"Yes," John nodded as he handed the notebook back. "In fact, tomorrow I'm having a meeting with the writers of the show, record a few Nick scenes and she..." he pointed at Aracely, "said she's going to make me work hard because we didn't do anything today. However, I love the work that you do and what the site does, uniting fans all over the world, so when I'm not busy, I will gladly record that video for you, I just can't tell you when."

"You are truly amazing."

"Nope, you girls make me look good, now first question." John smiled.

"Okay," Geri said, taking a breath and struggled to calm down. "Kathi is so going to kill me for losing it like this - but anyway, questions. Do you have any hopes or wishes for the show for next season?"

"Yes," John nodded. "There are several things in the pipeline right now, even this morning I coined something very nice to the writers about Nick having to steal a chopper for something so I really hope that pans out. Apart from that, there's a lot of reorganisation going on behind the scenes, but it's going well. I'm putting my best friend in charge... which is scary."

"You're nominated for "Switching Sides," what was your inspiration when you wrote that episode? It's a fan favorite because it's light on Mike and heavy on Nick, but the story was unusual for a TV series, the twist, we didn't see that coming!"

He grinned as he rubbed the back of his neck and looked over at Aracely for support who only shrugged. "I had ideas being pitched to me from every which way when I wrote that script. I think I was also drunk when I decided on the plot - I honestly don't remember. I do know I drank _a__lot_ of beer that week but a great deal of it was written on the side for something else as there were a couple times in the past that we came close to recasting a number of the characters or introducing more."

"Wow, that's interesting. I never thought that the inspiration of the episode was so - not what I was expecting," Geri laughed before waving at Aracely. "Now, those pictures and video that leaked out a couple weeks ago of you and Aracely Morales on set - can we expect to see her in an episode or maybe more? Are you writing a character for her or how did it come about the role?"

"Frankly, we weren't too happy about the fact that it got leaked, we wanted it to be a surprise. It was part an accident, because the actress we cast didn't show up, and part of me showing her what I do. You'll be seeing that... oh I think in two weeks?" He ran his hand through his hair as he thought of the other questions. "Well, as it is, Aracely is still under contract for _Toe__the__line_ after we're done for another season in the fall. It depends on a lot of things really. We haven't really discussed things yet, and I want to see how you guys react to the episode as well. For the record, I think she did great and would make a great actress."

Aracely chuckled and shook her head slightly. "The males on the crew just want me to wear the same costume they had me in last time," she said loud enough to be heard on the girls' handheld recorders.

"Yeah well, can you blame them? us?" John grinned. "Should Aracely decide to join us for the second half next season, I'm going to make damn sure that her character isn't going to end up as 'just the pretty face' or whatever like you see a lot in other shows. They bring in a model, for example, and say she's an actress if she has one line. I think that's disrespectful towards the model, but also to her fans. So, should we come up with a story line that would require Aracely, and she says yes, her agent says yes, and all those fancy important people that enable us to do what we love to do say yes too, I'll be making sure that the character will be interesting, and that it'll continue to be interesting even if that particular story line is over."

"Wow, never thought you were a feminist," Anna chuckled.

"Oh yes, power to the women!"

"We know that you don't like being in the spotlight that much, or just do projects that you love such as some web series, or making music... wait... speaking of music, when will we get to hear a new song?"

"Yes John, when?" Aracely prompted.

He glared at her before shoving his hands in his pockets. "I don't know right now. Maybe after we're done with TTL and Masterminds wraps for the season. Only then will I have some free time for those hobbies. Plus I have to finish getting my house in order. Never bothered unpacking when I moved in so everything, everywhere. I remember tripping over a box of dishes that I forgot I owned. Too much take out," he laughed.

"I am sure you been asked this a bunch of times tonight but we have to try. Any spoilers you can give us?" Anna asked sweetly.

"I gave you the chopper! Alright, it's still a work in progress, but it's a shiny chopper?" He shrugged. "Try to be more specific about a spoiler, what episode... or what character, I'm sure I can say at least something that nobody else has heard yet."

"That is easy. Give us some scoop about Nick please?"

Geri chimed in, "Pretty please?"

"He'll definitely be a main character in season two."

"Now that is the best confirmation on anything we could have gotten from anyone here tonight," Geri smiled.

"Hey, what can I say? I love you guys." John shrugged. "Oh! And... in this week's episode, you're going to see some familiar books."

"What?! Are you... oh... wow, are you... crazy?"

"No, just a fan of your books, like I told you before." He chuckled. "And those books you've sent me are being read over and over again at various schools in the area."

"Alright... uhm... gosh..." Geri stammered. "Uh... okay last question before we'll email you the rest... you're still bonkers for saying you'll answer them too... uhm... Now that Nick is becoming a main character, will everything we learned so far - which is not much - get swept under the rug for a new back story or are you staying true to what has been established so far? Like how he doesn't like wearing suits because it makes him feel like he's confined to something?"

"Oh, no. Everything sticks. Especially the suit thing." John said quickly. "I mean... they're not comfortable, at all! And then you have to wear a tie most of the time and ugh."

"Hey!" Aracely objected. "I happen think that you look great in a suit if it were properly fitted for you. You don't have to have a tie with a suit either."

"John Sheppard, dancing in a suit, coming to a TV soon near you." John sighed and shook his head. "I'm doomed. Alright, let me give you girls a hug and I'm sure that Kensi wouldn't mind to take a picture of the four of us. It's getting a bit chilly out here."

He and Aracely both signed a page in Geri's notebook and Kensi took their picture and after hugging them, John and Aracely went inside, where it was warmer. John took a big breath of relief. The hard part was over, although he really liked giving some of his time to Geri and Anna.

"You looked like you were having fun with them," she smiled as they were eventually led to their seats and finally were able to settle down and take a breather.

"Yeah, they're great girls. Writers, love charity, and apparently helping out with that website, great sense of humor... they're one of the few fans who I like to tweet back to." John smiled as Kensi handed him a beer and a glass of wine to Aracely. "Ohh yum."

"I just had it out with the event security. Instead of filler people to sit in the seat if you are called to accept an award, I'm going to come over and sit with you Aracely. Gibbs is stationed just off stage in that situation to keep an eye on you," she reported.

"Ah, don't worry, I'll be sitting here for the rest of the evening."

Kensi only smiled and nodded, having managed to get the scoop ahead of time. "Alright, I'll be over there and the other guys are seated two rows behind you. We have you covered no matter the case."

"Have you seen Jack?"

"Yeah, he's coming in in about five minutes. Don't worry, he and his wife will be sitting next to you." Kensi smiled reassuringly and moved away.

"Just relax and drink your beer," Aracely said, settling her hand on his arm. "Enjoy the show."

*******ShepFlight****1:** Just waiting until the show starts. Nice and warm inside. Have a beer. Great meeting *meekobb and *toomuchbuggy

*******TeylaEmmagan****:** Good luck *ShepFlight1! Torren and I are watching!

*******notapilotjim****:** Seriously? A rumba-off?! *AcieMoe, you're so going down! #liveTV #spreadsfast

John turned off the phone and smiled at Aracely. "How are you feeling?"

"Better," she grinned, holding up her glass of wine. "How about you?"

"Like I shouldn't be here," he chuckled. "I mean, look at all those big names pouring in right now! There's Robert Danzig, Steve McGarrett, Kathryn Janeway... oh and look, Olivia Benson."

"You belong here too. You write a great show, you portray a wonderful character that everyone loves. Just enjoy yourself and maybe you'll be able to go home with a few signatures!" Aracely teased.

"Ha!" he laughed. "I just can't help feeling that this is just too big for me you know... I was always in the background or laying low..."

"Well, I don't know about you but I am feeling quite proud of you right now. And couldn't be more pleased to be here to support you tonight." She wrapped her arm around his again and leaned in closer as she looked around at the crowd to see who else was there. "Isn't that Leon Vance, one of the Hammond execs?"

"Yep..." John sighed and shifted in his seat.

Her hand slid down to rest in the middle of his thigh in attempts to get him to sit still. Smiling at him she only shook her head while the rest of the guests continued to take their seats and wait for the show to begin.

"Evening folks," Jack smiled as he and his wife sat down next to John. "You missed something quite spectacular yesterday, with those pyro tests for the season finale shooting."

"So I've heard," John replied with a smile.

"You need to sit up straight, there's no use of trying to hide or disappear into your chair with these cameras around," Jack chuckled. "And Aracely, you look absolutely gorgeous."

"And you look positively handsome," she smiled back at him. "Did they make you stay long out on the circus walk?"

"Of course they did, John skipped a few!" he laughed. "Also, I don't know what you did, but there were two ladies near the door that had been turned into a puddle of goo."

"They are the helpers of the web mistress of one of the most important fan sites out there, I think I spent more time with them than with those real reporters," John chuckled. "I thought you wouldn't mind."

"Oh no, it was refreshing. Dave, if he'd attend to stuff like this for his other works, usually soaked up all the attention with empty words and stuff, this was actually fun." Jack replied. "I can't wait for us to blow him up in the season finale. Out with the old, I say."

John nodded slowly and sighed. "Let's just not mention him again, okay? I know you'll probably win in your category tonight but please don't mention him."

"I never liked him anyway. Hey, I told you to sit up straight. Come on."

He groaned and sat up again. "Better?"

"Much."

Aracely only chuckled as she pat a hand on the breast of his coat and got more comfortable in her seat as the lights began to dim down. The first hour of the show was as expected, many of the usual people winning as they do every year. Masterminds did win in one general category where another of the show's people went up to accept the award but when John's actual nomination for best writer came around, he tried his damnest to press himself into his seat as if it would eat him up and make him disappear.

Danny Williams and Gregory House were presenting and after some exchange of words and a cane to the foot, Danny slowly opened the envelope he held...


	17. Chapter 17 - Mature Content

It was way passed midnight when they finally arrived back home at Aracely's home. John knew that they would only have a couple of hours of sleep before he was due on set, and was thinking about pulling an all nighter but he actually felt tired and drained. The show itself had won an award for Best TV show (he made Jack go and pick it up), Jack had won for Best Actor and John had to walk over there to pick up the award for Best Writer.

It was awkward at best, he kept hoping that the floor would open up and swallow him whole, making him disappear and erase him from existence. It didn't happen of course.

He hadn't switched on his phone on their way back, and he wouldn't switch it on for at least a while to avoid phone calls, congratulatory texts and what not. Maybe avoiding his laptop wouldn't be such a bad thing either.

John knew it was late and that he probably should go to bed, but he wanted one last beer before he went.

Aracely walked around the house, tired and tripping over her dress as she attempted to get ready for bed. "What time do you need me to set the alarm for?" she asked with a yawn as she poured herself a glass of milk.

"Nine a.m," he replied as he opened his bottle of beer and sat down at the counter. "No wait... 8 a.m. They want me there at 9."

"Okay," she said before making her way over to him and running her hand through his hair and over the back of his neck. "What's the matter?"

"Nothing, why?" John smiled at her. "I think I left the silly statue in the car, though. Which is fine."

"I don't know. You just seem down about something right now."

"I'm fine," he chuckled. "With the award show out of the way, I feel great." Maybe he should do some more work in preparation for tomorrow, for the basics of the set up for season two.

"Mmhmm," she hummed, not believing him as she went to pull herself over his lap. "They really do like you, a lot. I think it's great that so many love you."

"It's not that, I think..." John thought for a second and took a sip of his beer. "Last year we were nominated for best new series. Didn't win. Now we won three of those things. It's a lot of pressure."

Aracely hummed an acknowledgment as she kissed along his jaw. "Or maybe you fixed something that was greatly needed. Whatever it is then do not stop. You should not be down about the show doing well. Come to bed."

"I'm not down, I'm... I don't know. Pressure." He smiled and downed his beer in one go. "Sleep... okay... either that or work a little."

"No work," Aracely scolded lightly. "Come. Now." She smiled, her eyes glittered as she looked at him through the darkness. Their bodyguards had taken up different areas, one laid out on the couch for a short catnap while the other two did rounds outside which was why she was being so open to him in the kitchen as she was. "I have other plans for you."

"Ah, I take it no sleep then either," John grinned and softly kissed her.

"No, you will get sleep. I promise you of that," she chuckled.

He put his arms around her and got off the crutch, carrying Ace in his arms. "I love you, you know that?" John said as he started to walk the stairs with her. "And you looked so beautiful tonight, you were the most gorgeous woman out there."

Aracely said nothing as he carried her back into the bedroom and started to set her on the bed. She lowered her legs so that she could remain standing before turning him and nudging him back until his legs met with the bed, forcing him down. "All I want you to do is lay back, relax and just enjoy yourself. Can you do that?"

"I can try?" he said, looking at her. She was looking like a goddess in that dress standing over him like that.

She chuckled as she slowly started to undress herself before laying the gown over the arm of the chair in the room and making her way back over to him. In just her underwear and bra, she crawled onto the bed, pushing his legs apart enough for her to kneel between them, she slowly began to unbutton his shirt and undress him herself.

Eventually she made her way down to his pants, yanking them down his legs but refusing to let him help her in any way other than to lift his hips. "How are you feeling now?" she asked, her hands gliding back up his legs and resting on his thigh after she threw the clothes over her head behind her.

"Disabled. Can I touch you? Please?" John swallowed hard, she looked like a tigress, ready to pounce on him although he knew that he probably wasn't going to be that lucky. He realized that she wanted him to relax, stop being so uptight but he had no idea how to do that right now.

"No and if you try I will tie your hands to the bed posts," Aracely replied before moving her hands higher, catching on his boxers and played with the waist band.

John took a deep breath and closed his eyes before folding his hands behind his head. "I'll try not to touch you then..." He started to wiggle his toes. "Can my toes touch you?"

"I have four bed posts," she pointed out before curling her fingers around the band and pulled them down.

"I'm not good at laying still... I mean..." He opened one eye and saw Aracely stare him down. "Shutting up now."

Once rid of the shorts, she moistened her hand with her tongue and took his semi limp member in her hand and stroked it in a firm yet gentle pace. "Just close your eyes and relax. Let yourself _feel_."

He closed his eyes again and tried to empty his head, he knew that that was the main reason for him unable to relax. John tried to focus on feeling Aracely's hand working his dick but as soon as one thought disappeared from his head, the next one came in. "You know, maybe I could suggest to the writers that Nick has legal assets, like a bar or real estate, that he put the money he made from his cons into something legal so they can't touch him or something like that..." He shook his head. "Ohh maybe they stumble upon people in the Witness protection! … Hey!" John cried out when Aracely squeezed a bit too hard. "Why did you do that?!"

"No work in bed. Number one rule if we are going to be together," she said with a stern voice before bending over and running her tongue under his cock.

"I'm sorry," he said and tried to quietly empty his head and focus on Aracely's attentions. "I'm really sorry?"

She took him in her mouth completely, moaning as she sucked deeply. Her hand wrapped around him as she worked him before letting go to undo her bra.

"Noooo..." John moaned as he felt her hand and tongue leave his dick. "Come baaackk..." He then opened his eyes to see what she was doing. "Ohh... bye bye bra!" he chuckled. "Can I use my hands now?"

"You cannot leave that spot if you do," she grinned as she leaned back over to start licking his growing cock again and resumed her previous pace, glancing up at him occasionally to make sure he was indeed relaxing and enjoying himself.

"Well, if I can't leave this spot if I use my hands, that means that we won't be able to dance either," John pointed out. "God Ace..." he breathed out when she playfully tugged his balls. "Alright, I'm not touching you!"

She chuckled as she adjusted her position so that she would climb up his body, kissing and licking everywhere her lips touched. Reaching his lips, she pressed herself against him firmly, her still covered rear end pressed against his hard cock. "What do you want John?" she asked, her voice low and whispering into his ear. "Do you want my lips on you again? Do you want to be deep inside me?"

"I want you," he managed to say, feeling his blood starting to reach a boiling point. "Anything... I'd do anything to be able to want you."_God__she__'__s__sexy_, he thought. "I'm all yours..."

Unable to stand the time it would take to stand and remove her panties, she simply pushed the fabric aside so that she could press herself onto him, letting out a sigh, and wince, at him stretching her. She knew it would take getting used to again, regular sex with someone she loved.

"Oh, you look so hot..." John said, his eyes were fixed on her while he fought his urge to touch her by locking his fingers together underneath his head. "So incredibly sexy... what have I done to deserve you looking like this?" He took a deep breath. "You feel so good..."

Aracely grinned down at him as she rolled her hips and slowly found a pace comfortable for herself that pleased both her and John as she still wished to maintain control to have him simply enjoy himself without being a fully active participant. Reaching down, she held her panties she still wore aside so that the fabric did not rub and cause discomfort for either of them. It did not take long that she began to let out breathy moans as her head fell back to her shoulders.

She was looking _divine_, it was hard not to touch her, or flip her over and make sure they both would be satisfied. He was nearly _there_. Then again, she said that he wasn't allowed to touch her, but he could move his hips a little, making sure she wouldn't topple off of him. He moaned when she clamped her knees around him and dug the nails of her free hand in his stomach as he was being stared down by her.

It didn't take long until John felt Aracely's muscles contract and release on his cock, the sounds she was making and the look on her face combined with her body sending her over the edge made him go as well.

The next morning, John felt better than the day before when the alarm clock went off. Sure, he was a bit tired still from everything that happened, but it was nothing that make-up couldn't fix.

He managed to untangle himself from Ace's limbs, she had been holding him in a vice-like hold all night, and went to the bathroom to take a quick shower after she insisted that she wanted 'five more minutes'.

She was still in bed when he walked back into the room, drying himself off. Chuckling, he climbed on the bed and got the sheets off her face before he softly kissed her. "You can sleep in if you want to, meet me on set later?"

"I should hate you for even suggesting that..." she pulled a pillow over her head. "Or hate myself for liking that suggestion very much."

John laughed as he got off the bed. "Alright, see you in a couple of hours."

He had taken a mug filled with coffee from the kitchen to work as Banks didn't allow him to stop by Starbucks to get coffee, still with the whole 'poisoning scare thing'. Sure, John was worried that until this all got resolved, something would happen again, but he _loved_Starbucks coffee. It was almost some sort of ritual if he had to go into work.

By the time they arrived on set, everyone was gathered around Jack, drinking coffee and eating cake, celebrating the awards win, and John would have quietly and stealhtily made it to the office if it hadn't been for Banks following him around.

"Good morning John!" Jack called out just before John could open the door and sneak inside. "You do realize that these awards wouldn't be here without you, right?"

"Good morning and no, it's your hard work," John nodded and pointed at the office door. "Got some stuff to do before you guys need me on set, anyone seen Rodney?"

"At least have some cake!" Katie, one of the junior writers, chimed in. "The cake is great, don't be a party pooper."

"I'm not," John laughed. "I love working with you guys, go celebrate, it's well earned, just stick to coffee and tea, not alcohol. I just want to get stuff done because I don't have a lot of time right now." With that, John opened the door of the office and let himself and Banks in before closing the door. "Ugh."

"Oh come on, you've earned it." Banks laughed as he flopped onto Rodney's comfortable couch.

"I do want to be there with them and have a little fun, but like I said, so much to do, so little time. Besides, Ace will probably be here around lunch and she'll get me to dance if I'm not shooting." John sat down behind Rodney's desk and opened a few drawers here and there to find the papers he was looking for.

Half an hour later, just as John was finished, Sarah from hair and make-up came to pick him up. Usually, Teyla would kick his ass towards the caravan but she was still off sick with Torren. "Bags! You've got bags underneath your eyes!" Sarah said as she pulled him out of the chair. "And just as you need to look bright and shiny in the first scene you'll be filming! How many hours of sleep did you get in the last few days?"

"Not enough, but I know that you have magic hands," John smiled at her as he followed her out of the office, already trying to calculate when he was able to meet with the writer's team in between takes or maybe when they'd break for lunch.

*******ShepFlight****1:** In makeup chair on set of #Masterminds. [twitpic] Lovely Sarah seems to think I don't sleep enough #timemanagementissues

*******ShepFlight****1:** Have a little time for a short Q and A, shoot.

*******kathimistress****:** *Shepflight1 the girls just emailed me with stuff. I am speechless. Thank you for your support!

*******ShepFlight****1:** *kathimistress no, thank YOU.

*******gossipqueencom****:** *ShepFlight1 Are the rumors true? Nick is going to be a main character on #Masterminds?

*******OfficialMind****:** The ratings for #Masterminds are still climbing! Thank you all for your love and support, here's to the next season!

*******OfficialMind****:** Go to for big news on the 3rd season of #Masterminds! wow!

John took his lunch to the writer's den. He had scooped up a large plate of everything, really, after Banks made sure that the food was good and not poisoned or something. He had hooked up his laptop to the beamer and he had fun talking with all the writers about new stories for the coming season. Kate Todd, the new head writer, was busy taking notes when Aracely walked in.

With her hair hanging over her shoulders uncharacteristically of her and a pair of dark sunglasses covering her eyes, Aracely was not too happy. Part of her desire to stay in bed that morning, was not because of their late night activities but more of a feminine issue that marked severe headaches as a precursor for her. "Good morning," she smiled tensely as she went over to sit next to John with a sigh and a genuine smile for him.

"Good afternoon," he chuckled and reached for her sunglasses to put them on her head. "Hungry?"

She whimpered at his motion as she squinted at him. "No," she replied, moving to lower the shades back down. "Just a massive headache. How are you doing here so far?"

"We just started, see? Working through lunch." He then chuckled as he reached for her sunglasses again. "Did you have too much to drink last night or something?"

"No. Maybe not enough. You've been married. I'm sure you are familiar with feminine - issues," she complained before holding her hand firmly on the glasses and laying her head down on the back of the sofa.

John saw all the hopeful faces of the writers, they had just been talking about the possibility of Aracely joining the cast, and they really wanted to know if she'd be there from the start or half way through. He playfully poked her in the side. "Thought about talking to Hammond yet? Trying to get you out of your TTL contract?" He asked, taking a sip of his coffee when she almost growled at him for poking her.

"If I see him sure, but right at this moment, I am not going out of my way to find him. As it is we'll be up late again tonight in the studio. I know just how much you _love_ that." she smiled back at him.

"Okay, no problem," he answered and focused on his laptop for a little while to get the file he wanted. "So this is the general idea I had about the next season. Now, I know that technically, I won't be in charge over the plots anymore, and Kate, please change things the way you see fit, or whatever." He said, pointing at the time line. "I know it's a bold move to have an undercurrent of stories in a TV show, we're not Twin Peaks or another complicated TV show, we're all about fun and not taking things seriously. But the fans deserve great TV, what's better than throwing them off in the season finale of season 3? Also, it might get me my helicopter." John chuckled.

"You just want that horrid thing, don't you?" Aracely laughed as she shifted so that she could see the screen without lifting her head too much. "That looks - interesting."

"Helicopters are cool." John nodded and took a bite out of his turkey sandwich.

"Yeah, it looks great, it's actually a great idea but I'm not certain about your decision to make me head-writer." Kate said, chewing on her pen. "I mean..."

"Hey, I'm always here. If not, you can shoot me an email, but you won't be all alone, I just... I can't do everything by myself anymore." John said. "And you're a great writer, some of our best stories in season 1 and 2 came from you."

"But you're gifted John, I mean, if we'd write a script when we're drunk off our ass, you'd axe it immediately because it'd be rubbish."

"Have some faith in yourself. I wouldn't have appointed you this task if I knew you weren't up for the challenge. As for Aracely's participation the coming season, I'm sure that for the first half, as long as it's a minor scene like appearing on the streets or whatever, she can fit that in with her schedule for TTL. If she does manage to talk to Hammond to get her out of her contract, we can always write bigger scenes."

"What about Nick? We don't know enough about him, it's all in your head!" Katie Brown was practically bouncing in her chair.

"I don't think I've told you this, but the scene you wrote for Nick in his apartment was brilliant."

"Don't be daft."

"I mean it," John chuckled. "But if it helps, I'll write some background on Nick for you guys to play with. And for Aracely's character too, we have the entire winter and spring to work on the first few scripts so don't worry. Relax. Breathe." He finished eating his turkey sandwich and moved on to a ham and cheese bagel. "First stage is thinking of ideas so think."

"Doesn't shooting begin in June for the next season?" Aracely asked, confused. "I have no problem with working with you on anything its just whatever point in the season you are filming when September starts is where I would need to be scaled back until December."

"You've heard the lady," John grinned and looked at the door, Gerald Jackson was standing in the opening. He was directing the next couple of episodes.

"We're ready to shoot a few office scenes, but we really have to get a shot of you out on the streets as well, but your lackeys won't allow it." He said grumpily. "Something about security and that they want at least a week's notice and what not."

"Back lot? I'm sure Rodney can come up with something." He put his coffee in front of Aracely and pushed his plate towards her too as he got up. "Eat, I'll be back soon."

"Yeah Dad," she replied with slight irritation as she picked at the bread rather than the meat. "Did I ever mention how much I dislike turkey?"

"It's ham and cheese." John rolled his eyes at her. "I already finished the turkey."

"Ham too. I don't like cold cuts. I'll get something later, thanks," she smiled at him before setting her head back down. She let out a long sigh, hating her body at that moment.

Katie sat down next to Aracely and handed her a bag of unsalted peanuts and various other nuts. "This will help," she said with a big smile. "I'm so excited that you will be joining the cast, it'll be fun to write for a woman other than 'Jones' for once... she's basically a man!"

"Thanks," Aracely said as she set the bag on her lap but did not make an attempt to eat them as she truly was not hungry and her stomach bothered her too much. "I am looking forward to trying something new. I am just curious as to what you all would do for the character I would supposed to play."

Katie grinned. "Wouldn't you like to know! Once boss gives us the general idea of your character, we'll start writing things, but be prepared to have our con artist consultant sending you lots of videos to practise certain... _skills_."

She lifted her head and looked at the woman dead on over the rim of her sunglasses. "What - skills are you referring to?"

"Oh you know... 'sleigh of hand', picking locks... pickpocketing..." She smiled. "And looking sexy while doing so. Sexy and smart."

"The life of a criminal. Here I thought I was supposed to be the distraction while _he_ did all that. It's fine of course. Maybe it will be put to some practical use if I ever get locked out of my house."

"Yes! You will! But you might have a scene or two that shows that you're just as kick ass as he is."

By the time it was 3 pm, John had shot all of Nick's appearances for the last two episodes they'd shoot, using a green screen for the outdoor sequence. He hated green screen, but Banks wasn't budging without the proper security in place.

After getting back into his own clothes and getting rid of the gunk on his face, he walked into the Writer's den which had the writers still in debate about the upcoming season and Aracely was laying on the couch with a cup of tea in her hands. Smiling, he put the cup of tea aside and helped her up. "Let's go."

"Where are we going?" she asked with a small grunt as she was forced from the relatively comfortable position she managed to find.

"Home, where you can be all warm and comfortable on the couch, wrapped up in blankets and you'll tell me what to do with the dance."

"Right. Okay, this time. I have to see you trying to get through a routine on your own for a little while. I do not even remember what style we were supposed to do this week, my head hurts so much."

"Making a country dance a ballroom dance. I'll just put the rehearsal footage up from when we did that... heck, maybe Kensi will be there and I'll use her as a dummy." He stuck out his tongue to her as he escorted her out of the den.

"You just want the chance to step on her feet," Aracely smiled as she followed him out, waving good bye to the people. "She'd be a good fill in. I know she used to dance when she was younger so she understands basic moves."

"Well then, problem solved."

"YOU!" Rodney ran out of his office and nearly leaped in John's arms if it hadn't been for him holding Aracely. "Were great last night! Did you have the cake yet?"

"We're going home now, Rodney," John chuckled. "You saw the papers I signed?"

"Yep!" He then looked at Aracely. "Oh I went to Hammond's office this morning. If you want, you can quit after this round at TTL, he said that you deserve that for what you're enduring this round."

All she could do was stare at him blankly. "What?" she asked, not sure if she heard him right.

Rodney waved his hand around. "Greener pastures, you can have it."

Seeing the confused look on her face, John chuckled. "You look so adorable when you're confused. Rodney just said, Hammond doesn't mind you quitting after this round of TTL if you're going to switch sides."

"Round or season? We're almost halfway through the season. Each week is a round..."

"See? That's why I don't do reality TV." Rodney pointed out. "Okay, how about this, after you and John either win or get eliminated, you can choose to be relieved from your contract for the next season to work on Masterminds."

"Oh. Why didn't you say that in the first place," Aracely replied shaking her head. "That sounds great. Hammond has my agent's information that the new contract can be sent to. I am sure Tony will be as happy as a pig in mud."

"Who's Tony?" Rodney asked confused. "Your dancing agent? You need a better agent."

She raised her eyebrow and frowned. "He's done good by me. If anything he's been pressuring me to expand into other forms of entertainment so he will be quick to have the contract reviewed and to me to sign. Leave him alone or - I'll tape orange air fresheners all over you new office..."

John saw how the color drained from Rodney's face. "Yeah buddy, I told her about your allergy to citrus fruits."

"I hate you," Rodney glared at John and then at Aracely. "Fine, now go home and do your thing... stuff... just be great on Monday, I'm not spending $50 every week to vote for your failure."

"$50? Really?" Ace asked. "Who are you paying?"

"The network apparently, when I phone my votes, repeatedly!"

"So you actually watched John perform?" she grinned, looking up at the man as she saw John's face redden.

"Yes, duh. Of course. Me and my sister Jeannie watch together. I keep hoping for a drama free week for the two of you so you can actually do your thing even better... you need to kick Daniel Jackson's ass, he was a petulant child actor and he thinks he's still all that at his age." He waved his hands around. "Here's hoping that next week will be _easy_ for you. Now go."

They picked up some chocolate donuts on their way back to Aracely's house, in case Kensi _was_ there and needed to be persuaded into dancing with John. The first thing Ace did was to open a closet and dig out a couple of duvets and make herself comfortable on the couch with a heating pad wrapped around her belly.

John made her tea while he was drinking a beer, for which he got glared at by Aracely. Fortunately, Kensi didn't needed that much persuasion to practise with John, as she had watched the rehearsal tapes a few times after Aracely had gotten up this morning with a foul mood and knew instantly what was going on. She had actually hoped that they'd ask her because she was tired of sitting around on her ass all the time.

The next day, Aracely seemed to be doing better and they practised all day long, only stopping for food, toilet breaks and something to drink.

On Sunday, John was exhausted, but climbed out of bed anyway, only to notice that Ace was still sleeping. He groaned after he had gotten dressed and made his way downstairs for coffee, if she was still sleeping, the best thing he could do was to check his emails.

_Why__won__'__t__you__just__die__? __Are__you__too__scared__to__walk__around__without__baby__sitters__? __Be__a__man__!_

There were more emails like that, and John handed his laptop over to Nell to make an attempt of tracing it. As long as the threats kept to emails again, he was fine with that, there was no reason to fall back into survival mode.

He used Aracely's computer to check on his non-official-fake email account to see if there was something fun there, and smiled when he saw the email with the questions he had promised to answer. Knowing that he looked as if he had just rolled out of bed, he ran his hands through his hair a couple of times and recorded a video with her webcam and microphone with answering two questions before sending it off to Kathi.

After Ace came downstairs, was awake and dressed, they got back to work.


	18. Chapter 18

"I was bored, quite frankly," Laura Cadman said as she looked at her fellow judges. "Can they please have something with lifts in it next week?"

"Oh lifts! Yes to that! Something more spicy, perhaps?" David Parrish mused.

"Leave the spice at home." Caldwell grunted. "But yes, this was your worst dance to date. It was sloppy, you were all over the place. I get it, you have some issues you're dealing with but you chose not to give up on the show, so I would love to see it if you'd give your full attention to this."

"I know that Steven is a little bit mean, but I have to agree... it didn't look right." Parrish sighed as he took a sip of his wine. "Granted, you both look incredibly sexy with those cowboy hats and chaps but... other than that? B-o-r-i-n-g!"

Aracely and John were clearly aware of the critical comments and did not object to any of them. It had been a ridiculously crazy week for them, coupled with being nearly incapacitated by her cycle, she just wanted to hit a nice hot bath. She assured John that everything was okay that no matter what, she was proud of him but she was certain they may have ended up in the bottom two for the results portion of the week.

"So, how about that Rumba dance-off?" Cam grinned as he sat down next to Ace after his own performance, having had the misfortune of his dance partner getting mildly injured in the middle of the routine. John thought it was a bit odd that the man was grinning, considering that his partner had been a playboy model and had been doing great in the past weeks. Come to think of it, John realized that most of the couples didn't have their week.

"You know that isn't going to happen but I wouldn't doubt they give us both a rumba for the same week," Ace replied as she sat back and looked out through the window at the audience. "Dance offs are better for dances like the jive."

"Or you know... maybe they'll split all of us up in two groups like last season and make us all work together on a group dance, now _that_would be fun now you're on board."

Aracely only shrugged in response, as she still hadn't confirmed that should would back out of the contract with TTL as she was offered. "We'll see. There is still a few weeks left. Who knows what they'll throw at us."

"Hey, you guys want to go see a movie or something somewhere in the next couple of days?" Aiden sat down behind them. "I could really use some fun time."

"Sure," Cam nodded. "How does Wednesday sound?"

"Great! What about you, Ace? Or are they still keeping you on lock down?"

"I'm going to use the bathroom," John said and slowly got up. "I'll be right back."

She smiled at him as he left before looking at her friends. "For the most part, lock down. I am sure that if we give them enough time, they can set up some sort of security if we give them enough time. I just don't feel like arguing with them lately."

"I'm just going to the toilet, Ronon," John rolled his eyes at the big guy following him.

"Yeah, so?" the man replied. "You have a tendency to just walk off and find a quiet spot and make us look bad."

John and Ace weren't in the bottom two, but they weren't on top of the leader board either. John was just glad that by the time they got back to Aracely's place, he could climb up the stairs and crawl into bed. He snuggled up against Ace and dozed off instantly.

The next morning, John woke up early and he had the startling realization that he didn't have anything to work on. At all. Everything for_Masterminds_ had been done, and with giving the control to Rodney and a new head writer, he didn't even have to think about it anymore, and only write if he felt like it.

So instead of his reaching for newly returned laptop when he got downstairs, which he had given to Nell the day before to check out the suspicious emails, he took his mug of coffee and sat down on the couch, changing channels on the TV until he saw something he'd like to watch.

*******ShepFlight****1:** Can I actually say this out loud? I am officially on hiatus from #Masterminds and I have nothing else to do! #yay #vacationtime! #ohwait...

*******Teyla****_****Emmagan****:** *ShepFlight1 Torren is still sick but he said "I gonna kick JohnJohn's tushie for being a bad dancer" #thatsmyboy!

*******ShepFlight****1:** *Teyla_Emmagan to Torren: Bring it! Once you're healthy again. I have ice cream!

*******Teyla****_****Emmagan****:** *ShepFlight1 John Sheppard, ruining children's teeth since 2007. #dentistbill

*******ShepFlight****1:** Oh lookie, a #Masterminds marathon on HN. So many pretty people on the screen. Except for that Nick guy, he could use a shower.

*******ShepFlight****1:** It was SO NOT FUN to crawl around in a fake sewer all day. It was dirty alright. Had gunk in all the wrong places after shooting!

*******ShepFlight****1:** The big difference between Mike and Nick is that Mike is a mastermind. He's like... the boss. Thinks a lot. Nick doesn't think. He just does it.

*******ShepFlight****1:** And fixes mistakes. Maybe Nick can think a little more in season 3. What a dummy.

*******Teyla****_****Emmagan****:** You're your own worst critic. *eyes *ShepFlight1* Nick has brains enough. He needs a better fashion sense!

*******meekobb****:** *Teyla_Emmagan *ShepFlight1 better fashion sense? How about … uhh.. nothing?

*******Teyla****_****Emmagan****:** *meekobb tsk tsk it's a family show... ish. #boydoeslookgoodshirtless

*******meekobb****:** *Teyla_Emmagan *thunk*

*******ShepFlight****1:** I can't believe some people. Here's a shirtless pic [twitpic of his barefeet] *meekobb

*******BetterThanTheCar****:** I can do better than that. Took this sneakily last week. *ShepFlight1 *meekobb [twitpic of John in his Tom Cruise dance clothes]

*******NotAPilotJim****:** MY EYES! MY SENSITIVE EYES! *BetterThanTheCar *ShepFlight1

*******OfficialTTL****:** Tuesday is like a Sunday for our pro's and stars, rest and relaxation. Remember, you can still vote for your favorite couple!

*******NotAPilotJim****:** I think *OfficalTTL just found a nice way to say that we all royally sucked yesterday and that we do really really need votes to stay in the competition

*******ShepFlight****1:** I need more coffee...

Before John got up, Gibbs sat down next to him and handed him a Styrofoam cup of coffee. "We need to talk."

"About?"

"I happen to know you've been in contact with your brother."

"Big mistake, I know." John sighed, hating to be reminded of the one thing that he should never have done.

"Look, I know it isn't easy for you, with him being family, the way he's been treating you all of your life... but the guy physically assaulted you and Aracely. You pressed charges, he's out on bail. You shouldn't talk to him."

"I know," John took a sip of his new coffee.

"I also know that you've endured his behavior for a very long time and that you'd do a lot for family... but there's nothing you can do to help someone who doesn't want to get help."

"Who are you? Yoda?"

Gibbs chuckled. "No, but you should know that we traced back those emails from yesterday to some people your brother used to hang out with. We've sent the logs over to the LAPD."

"You're kidding."

The man shrugged and took a sip of his coffee. "I'm not saying your brother is involved, I mean, it's not proven, but it's not far fetched." Gibbs then handed him an envelope, it was closed still, but it had the hospital's address on it. "This came in yesterday, we had to make sure it was legit before we'd give it to you."

"Thanks." John said as Gibbs got up and headed towards the kitchen.

Aracely slowly made her way into the kitchen, her slippered feet shuffling across the floor. "Cam texted me. No encores tonight but they have other professionals doing guest performances to the live acts. We only need to be in costume."

"Okay," John said from his spot in the living room and started opening the envelope. "Good morning!"

She flashed him a glare as she reached up to grab a box of cereal from the top of the refrigerator. "It's morning."

"And a good one!" he took a sip of his coffee as he started to read the letter. In the background, he heard Gibbs filling Aracely in about his suspicions, the same thing he had told John the other moment. "At least it will stay a good morning if Gibbs just shuts up about it!"

"It is ridiculous all of this. How much longer will we have to put with all this - this - insanity?" she asked, slamming the box onto the counter. "I wish to have my home back. I wish to be able to go to dinner or movies with my friends without having to ask the permission of others."

"There's no hard evidence yet, apart from the IP addresses from the emails that were sent to you. But it's a good thing that we finally managed to trace them. It means they're getting impatient and sloppy." Gibbs responded. "We ALL want to go to our own homes for a longer period of time."

"You at least have an idea of who is at fault, no? Keep an eye on them or something. Just - you need to give us a little more room," she sighed.

"The LAPD is looking into it all, and we're giving you more room than we would give any other client. If I had my way, you two wouldn't leave this house. At all." The man responded sternly. "I would have wanted your cellphone, your laptop and any other kind of medium you would use and I would even follow you to the bathroom. I know you're tired of us being around, but you'll just have to deal with it for a little longer."

"We were invited to go to the movies with friends this week. I wanted to say yes. I mean, it's just the movies. Please? I am about ready to snap here."

"When?"

"Tomorrow night."

Gibbs sighed. "Well, it's a week night, I doubt it will be crowded... I think Banks and Kensi would love to go with you."

Aracely found herself smiling as she looked over to John. "Do you wish to go still? If you don't, it's fine."

"I believe they asked you, not the both of us," John chuckled as he made his way into the kitchen to grab a sandwich. He softly planted a kiss on her cheek before poking his head into the fridge to see if there was any turkey left.

"No, you were invited as well. You may have missed that when you left for the bathroom," she shrugged. Whether he was or wasn't, she would have extended her invitation to him no matter what as they were _together_, and she was willing to share that with her close friends and trust they would keep it to themselves.

"Do you want me to come with? I mean... they are your friends, wouldn't it be nice for you to spend time with them without me?"

"If you and I are going to work, then they would be your friends too, I would think. Not that I wish to pressure you or anything. But each of us befriending each other's friends would be nice I think," she said in a small voice as she leaned back against the counter while Gibbs made a quiet escape from the area.

"That's not what I meant," John said as he grabbed the bread and started to make the sandwiches. "Don't you want to spend time alone? Without me? Sure, Cam and Aiden will take you to the movies, but you know..." He continued unsure and then just stopped making sandwiches as he looked at her. "Nancy always wanted to be left alone if we were together, she liked spending time alone with her friends."

"I am not Nancy and I enjoy the time I spend with you. I always will have the opportunity on other occasions to see them without you, however, if this is _your_ way of saying you are looking for some alone time yourself, then you could just say it," she remarked.

"No, that's not what I meant either. I love spending time with you, I think that I'm just amazed by the fact that you're not sick of me being around all the time," he said and softly kissed her. "I'm sorry if I made you feel sad."

"You really need to stop comparing what I say and do to your ex-wife. She was not a good person for you or in general," she said as she wrapped her arms around him.

"I truly am sorry," John pulled her closer to him. "Forgive me?"

She hummed while she pressed her nose to his shirt to breathe him in, pretending to debate on her answer. "Always," she said. "Always."

"You know what I was thinking?" He smiled as he caressed her hair. "We should go on a long... well... depending on when this all ends and if we make it to the finals of TTL... vacation to somewhere warm, with clear sea water and a lot of shave ice... we deserved that."

"Mmm, Hawaii..." she sighed, pleased. "That sounds _really_ good. So - movies? Yay or nay? So that I can let Cam and Aiden know."

"Yeah sure," he answered and chuckled. "I want a loco moco now... or lomi salmon..."

"Mahi mahi!" Ace exclaimed. "Oh, we so have to go on and plan it so that when we are done with the competition we can just grab our bags and jump on a plane. At least, after those night of and day after interviews. That's in contract unfortunately."

"Okidoki," John grinned and finished making his sandwiches and made some tea for the both of them as Ace had already grabbed his laptop and was searching for vacations while calling Aiden to tell him that she and John were coming with them to the movies the next day.

John put a steaming mug of tea down in front of Ace and sat down on the other chair to look what she was doing. "Oh, that looks nice."

"Yeah, but this resort here, is inclusive and has a dolphin cove," she pointed out, having had a weakness for the playful creatures since childhood.

"Oh, let's do that. If we're going to play tourist, we better do it right."

"Works for me. I'll bookmark this location so that when we know more we can book it," she announced before closing the computer down. "Okay so we have until tonight for the show. What do you want to do? We could try working on some ideas I had for the other dances that are coming up if you want. Just to be ahead of the game."

"I don't mind. Are you up for it? Feeling like yourself again then?" John smiled as he took a sip of his tea.

"My stomach is still cramping but I can get through it," she shrugged. "It won't kill me. Lived through it for years. I'm going to take a shower and change. Meet you downstairs?"

"Yep, just finishing my breakfast," he replied as he took a bite out of his sandwich. "Have fun!" It would have been nice if their babysitters hadn't been around. All of a sudden John was imagining a naked Ace standing underneath the warm water, seeing how the water caressed her body, touched every single inch of her before he'd join her underneath the spray and soap her up... Whining, John took a big gulp of the still hot tea to stop his mind from wandering after Ace. Having sex in the bedroom wasn't as noisy as a bathroom. Yep, scorching his tongue definitely helped with the not thinking about a naked Aracely... not.

John quickly grabbed his laptop and went to sit on the back porch.

Nick watched her from the door, he could be quiet if he wanted to. Stealth was after all needed in his line of work. Her beautiful curves were visible through the white shower curtain as the hot water fell down on her. He could see how she was soaping herself up, moving as if she was from somewhere exotic - which was far from the truth, she grew up in an Amish community, she left the church when she found out that the outside life was more interesting.

And boy was she interesting. Jane was smart and had a killer smile, but that wasn't what mattered right now. All that mattered was here, now, with Jane underneath the shower, thinking that he couldn't see her through the curtain. Nick couldn't believe that she had agreed to coming home with him after he deliberately spilled red wine on her dry-clean only white dress.

When she bend over to probably soap up her legs, he swallowed hard. So much grace in that girl, such a beautiful body... Nick was turned on alright. His hand was down in his pants, stroking his dick as he watched her take that shower...

John nearly jumped ten feet in the air when Aracely was standing behind him with a big smile on her face. "God!" He cried out. "Don't sneak up on me like that."

"Interesting story you're writing there," she replied, a cheeky smile flashing him. "Novel or script?"

"Short story... Hey, it's your own fault, you wanted me to write something more explicit... I was just getting to the good part too!"

"Of Nick being a very - sexy creeper? Interesting concept but - seriously? You were thinking about going to spy on me in the shower, weren't you?" she chuckled.

"Alternate Universe, whatever," John shrugged. "And yes. And probably join you. But I didn't, because of the house guests."

She smiled as she came around the chair to pull up another beside him, smiling as she leaned onto the table. "Has not stopped our activities before, however this week now - not so good for playtime."

"I _know_," he sighed and shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "Doesn't hurt to think about what might have happened if this was a normal week though!"

"No. It doesn't but if you are _that_ uncomfortable, you should have come up. I could have helped you in other ways," she said. "Otherwise now, I get to beat it out of you in the studio. You won't be thinking about anything else for awhile."

"I'm completely at your mercy," he chuckled and softly kissed her. "I'm good."

"Okay then," she replied, pulling him up from the chair. "You've had breakfast, your coffee, and your email time. Time to sweat it up on the floor."

It was nerve-wrecking, the results. Usually, he and Aracely would be one of the first five couples to be called safe, but by the time they reached half way through the contestants, they were still on the floor.

The results were all over the place too, the ones who were usually last, were called safe first and to be honest, they actually _were_ better this week.

"Well, this certainly is unexpected," Walter, the host, said when it was down to two couples. "Cassie and Jake have been in the bottom two before, but John and Aracely? Wow. I can't imagine how you must feel."

"You know," Chuck said as he looked at his cards. "It was a pretty close call too. Difference is about five votes."

"That is extremely close," Aracely whispered to John as she stood in front of him, smiling nervously as the cameras panned over them and the audience. "No matter what, you are a great dancer. You know that, yes?"

John smiled at her. "Don't worry about me, I feel more sorry for you if we have to leave this early... you have more than earned that trophy."

"You know what?" Walter grinned. "Let's go to the commercials first and then find out who is going to leave us today."

Aracely let out a groan along with her counterpart. The suspense was beyond irritating as she knew that they were also mentally planning out possible routines for whatever style they would have for the next week. "May I break his neck?"

Cassie grinned at Aracely. "We could jump him when we're back from commercials and hope we break his back?"

"We'll see. Good luck, regardless of the outcome," she smiled back, rubbing her palms over the skirt of her costume nervously.

John put his arms around Aracely's waist with a smile and brought his lips close to her ear. "If we get the boot, does this mean we can go swimming with dolphins next week?"

"Hell yeah!" she whispered back sharply as she relaxed in his arms slightly. "Now you're making me actually hope to be eliminated. Bad bad bad..."

"And we're back! In case you've missed it, Cassie and Jake and Aracely and John are in the bottom two!" Walter said into the camera. "Now, we've received a lot of complaints from viewers this week, saying that the challenges were ridiculous."

"Really? Isn't that where the fun's at though?" Chuck responded. "It was surprising how... different the judges scored this week compared to the previous two rounds."

"Please hurry up!" Parrish called out. "You're tormenting us! Not to mention the dancers!"

"Oh shush up and behave yourself!" Steven Caldwell said and shook his head.

"Alright... I don't think I'm ready for these results though..." Walter said as he peeked on his cue card. "The couple who received the lowest combined score from the judges and votes from the viewers is..."

Chuck started making drumroll sounds that got Aracely so unnerved that she fisted her hand and was ready to let it swing as she stood nearby but John kept his hand on her arm, calming her down.

Walter took another deep breath before continuing. "Cassie and Jake," he said eventually and the departing music was played as the two nodded and stepped forward for their last minute interview and dance. Ace let out the breath she'd been holding and quite nearly collapsed against John. "We're here another week...I thought we were going to get it. I don't understand. They were better than us nearly all the weeks..."

"I suppose Hawaii has to wait for another week," he chuckled and hugged her tightly. "You're going to make us kick ass next week, aren't you?"

"If you want that trophy then yes. Do you want that trophy John Sheppard?" she asked as they slowly stepped away from the floor as it crowded for the closing credits, cueing their time to try to get out of the studio while they could.

"I want it for you." He answered. They were both nearly scooped up by Ronon and Murray and with their help they made it out of the studio faster. "Alright, yes. I want it too, because it'd actually be something I worked really hard for, without being drunk off my ass."

Settling into the car for the ride home, she laid her head over on his shoulder and sighed, pleased and content. "Bed tonight then we start work tomorrow first thing. No distractions."

"I hope not... we deserve a week being healthy and without any additional troubles!"

"And to land at the top slot. We can do it, I know we can. Just - have to bust our asses to get there."

It was almost kind of a soothing idea, for three weeks now, they had been heading straight to bed after they got home from the results show. And this week, John felt even more tired than before as they had been practising seemingly random dance moves all day. Next week was going to be _their_ week, he could feel it.


	19. Chapter 19

When John woke up the following morning, the bed felt empty. Aracely was already up and he didn't know for how long. He decided to take a shower to wake up a bit more and got dressed in a pair of sweatpants and a shirt before heading downstairs for coffee and breakfast.

When he entered the kitchen, he had to blink a couple of times. The camera crew of TTL that would tape a bit of their rehearsal was already there, sipping their coffee. There was no trace of their babysitters, John figured they were hiding out in the garage for the time being. "Ah!" Ace smiled as she handed John his coffee. "Sleeping beauty has awoken!"

"You know, you could have just knocked on the door and say 'hey, wake up!', but you didn't." John replied, seeing how the camera guy switched on his camera. "Good morning guys."

"Where's the fun in that?" she asked, canting her head to the side as she gave him a sultry smile of innocence.

"I seem to remember that a couple of weeks ago you were jumping up and down on my bed to wake me up... okay, this was a more fun way to wake up, not feeling sea sick." He took a sip of his coffee.

She stuck her hands in her back pockets as she followed him around her kitchen. "Well - we got our music and dance this morning..."

"Uh yes?" John said, ducking his head in to the fridge.

"Mrs. Jones - the rumba!" she said, knowing how he reacted to the basic rumba moves she showed him the day before and the level of intimacy they had to display for the whole country.

He didn't get anything from the fridge and just stared at her with the fridge door open. "Didn't you win like two national titles for that dance?" He tried to sound as oblivious as he could. They had talked about the possibility of them getting the rumba and how they'd play it out. Ace was a better actress than she gave herself credit for.

"As did Mitchell," she pointed out, the smile never leaving her face as she had said they needed to look as if they were having sex on the floor to win it.

"So he'll have his rumba-off... uhm... wait... the rumba is that dance you... oh god I have to act like I want to have vertical sex with you while we're on two feet?"

"Yep. A vertical expression of a horizontal desire," she commented, moving her hands extravagantly for show as she twirled around the floor. "I'll be downstairs when you are ready!"

John then realized that when they would be dancing next week, the episode of _Masterminds_ with Ace in bed with him would air the night before. He started drinking his coffee to hide his laughter as he followed her downstairs. "I'm all yours, after I finish my coffee," he snickered.

"John, I want us to appear top of the leader board next week, so no joking around." Ace said as she started stretching. "I mean it."

"I mean it too, I'm all yours and I _can_ focus. I haven't even checked my emails yet."

Bending over to stretch her back and hamstrings, she looked at his reflection in the mirror. "I have some particular tricks that I want to work in. No lifts or anything that is against the rules, but elegant nonetheless. The song is absolutely perfect."

"I like your enthusiasm," John remarked as he made a pointed admiration of her ass as any warm blooded male would do in that situation. He drank the rest of his coffee in one go and set the mug aside. "Alright, what do you want me to do?"

For two hours straight they went through basic moves such as the rope motion and sliding doors before she began throwing her leg over his and flipping herself. "Hold onto me. Do not let me fall," she said, as she went through the motion, locking her legs around his for balance.

"Oh..." John chuckled and tried to stand still and make sure she didn't fall but he could feel how his entire body didn't cooperate and started to giggle. He gently let her down on the floor and had to walk away. "I'm sorry," he said, trying not to start blushing in the middle of his giggles.

"Oh come on! Think of something - bad. Like your mother wearing your friend's shorts? Or Rodney in your ex-wife's underwear?" she remarked.

"Noo!" John laughed. "That only makes it worse!"

"You get turned on by a hairy man in women's underwear? Wow..."

"Oh come on, you've seen Rodney... he'd look funny..." he hiccuped. "No turn on but so damn funny."

"Then who else? Gibbs?" she teased, unafraid of the man.

He walked towards the water bottles and opened a bottle, trying not to choke on the water as he drank it. "I wouldn't want to go down that road... thinking of Cam Mitchell dressed in a tutu after a mud-bath does the trick. But for the record, I'm not turned on."

She only rolled her eyes and nodded her response to the camera as he was turned away to throw his bottle back into the cooler. "Alright so let's get back to work with you thinking about muddy Cam in a tutu while we go through that move again."

"Just so you know... I'm _really_ uncomfortable right now."

"As will the rest of America be Monday night with what I have planned..."

John looked into the camera. "If she's going to make me dance around in shorts again, I will cry." He then grinned at Aracely. "Alright, but I'd really like some food soon too."

"Food is for whimps, but okay. Let's call it for now," she said, nodding to the cameramen. "Salad?"

"Have fun guys, we've got all we need for today. Can we come back in two days?" Tim the camera guy asked.

"Sure," John said, opening the door of the studio and ran upstairs towards the kitchen to get some food. "Sorry, hungry!"

He was glad when he saw the crew leave and snuck some salmon into the salad that Aracely had made for them early in the morning, hoping to surprise her with it. "You can come out of hiding now guys, they're gone!" Sure enough, the door to the garage opened and Kensi and Banks came out.

John had two bowls of salad ready when Aracely walked into the kitchen. After he placed the bowls onto the counter top and he went and put his arms around her. "Good afternoon," he smiled and softly kissed her.

"Mmm," she hummed as she melted into him. "To what do I owe this pleasure?" she asked, spinning in his arms to be able to face him and rest her hands over his shoulders.

"Well... I missed telling you a proper good morning with Tim around," John smiled at her and kissed her again. "And since it's the afternoon now..."

"Yes, well there was nothing I could really do about that. But he won't be back for a couple days. So practice is all to ourselves. You did good. Good thing I had us working on a few steps yesterday," she replied, reaching around to grab a piece of carrot that was sticking out from her bowl.

He let go of her and grabbed his bowl of salad from the counter while he sat down on one of the chairs. John fiddled his phone out of his pocket and chuckled when he looked at it. He had put it on 'silent' since the night before and there were 10 missed calls. After placing the phone on the counter, he took a bite out from his salad. "You know, it sort of feels good to have nothing else but the dancing this week."

"Which is good if we are going to fight our way to the top. We need as much time as we can get to get the routine down," Ace commented as she sat down to eat. "Not that playing around on the set of your show isn't fun..."

"That episode will be shown on Sunday," John grinned. "No, I'm completely done with _Masterminds_ this season. We shot everything they still needed from me on Friday. From now on, everything is in Rodney's hands... unless he calls me for help." He pointed at his phone. "He's called me 10 times since last night."

She raised an eyebrow, not paying attention to Banks who came in for some coffee. "And you haven't called him back? I wouldn't doubt if he manages to find my house number to start calling you."

"I mean... what could possibly have happened to the show since Friday?" John shrugged. "You can't tell me that over the weekend something happened."

"Well, actually..." Banks said, throwing his hands up as an apology. "There was a fire at the studio lot on Monday. Several TV shows have lost most of their interiors."

"Don't." John said and shook his head. "Don't." He quickly grabbed his phone and dialled Rodney's number in worry.

"Hey, I was only joking, but I suppose it worked!"

Aracely shook her head at him. "That was cruel, even for you," she smiled, fighting back from letting out a laugh and reached down to pat John on the knee as he waited for his friend to answer.

John decided to put the phone on speaker again and glared at Banks. "You suck."

"John Sheppard!" Rodney's voice bellowed from his phone.

"Hello Rodney," Aracely said cheerfully as she continued to eat her lunch.

"Oh good! He put me on speaker!"

John imagined Rodney's face having turned red from his anger. "What have I done to anger you today, Rodney?"

"NOTHING!"

"Then why did you call me 10 times? Did the studio catch on fire? Did you get into an accident? What?"

"I just called to say that... well... Jeannie was crying last night when you two ended up in the bottom two," Rodney said more calmly. "You nearly gave us all heart attacks!"

Ace rolled her eyes. "Everyone ends up in the bottom two at some point."

"Well, you did suck."

"We know, Rodney," John said as he took a bite from his sandwich. "Want to come to the show with Jeannie next week? They've been complaining that my guest seats are never taken, apart from when Teyla came with Torren."

"What? You're inviting us? To see you dance - in person?"

"I might... well I might regret it later."

"Forget that! We'll be there! Maybe I'll make a nice big poster that says Team Sheppard and Aracely and wave it around like those crazy girls at the award show last week..."

"I regret it already!"

Rodney huffed on the phone. "I was only kidding. We'll be there. Jeannie will be ecstatic. Maybe she could hook up with someone decent, like one of the other contestants instead of that tub of lard she is with."

"She's still with that guy? Ugh." John rolled his eyes. "Don't bring him."

"Don't worry. I won't. I'm just going to say that you had two tickets and that is all. Hell, I think that Daniel kid would be better for her than_Ryan_! I swear this guy has more hair gel than YOU do!"

"Hey, I don't do gel," he countered. "But good. That's settled then. You're coming with Jeannie. Anything else?"

"Yeah... some packages arrived here over the weekend, didn't like what was in them so I sent them over to the LAPD."

"Wait - whoa. What was in them and who sent them?" John asked, his lunch quickly forgotten as even Banks looked up.

"Well, one was dripping blood and when I opened it it was a severed pigs head. I immediately called the cops. It was addressed to YOU so I want YOU to stay INSIDE."

Aracely had just taken a bite of her salad with the salmon when he mentioned the box's contents and pushed her bowl back after struggling to swallow. "I think I'm going to be sick now," she said softly.

"Excuse me while I call Gibbs." Banks said, fumbling his phone out of his pocket and left the kitchen.

"John, this is serious stuff you know. Who in their right mind would send you a severed pigs head? I mean, those photo's and letters were fine, not that scary but with you and Aracely nearly poisoned last week and now this, this has to stop!"

"I know, Rodney," John sighed and rubbed Aracely's back. "They traced some emails to some of the people Dave associates with, but they can't pin it on him."

"He's got to be doing this! He's the only person crazy and sick enough to pull crap like this! I always knew he was bad news. But would you listen? Nooo! It only took him nearly beating the crap out of your girlfriend to finally do something about getting rid of him!" Rodney babbled on.

"YES, Rodney. All of this is MY fault!" John shot at him. "I protected him for too long and now this happens. Yes. My fault."

"No. It's not YOUR fault. It's HIS fault for being a douche bag! You didn't make him an asshole. He was born one. Now - just take it easy and stay in, please?"

"Don't worry Rodney, my schedule was empty anyway this week for the first time in ages. We were planning on spending most hours on dancing so we can kick some ass next week," he grumbled and stabbed his salad.

It seemed to satisfy the man and had little else to say for the rest of the call. "I'll call you later when I know more about the script for the finale episode."

"No, I'm done. We shot all my stuff on Friday. I might come watch the pretty pyrotechnics you told me about though."

"Uhh, I uh, meant to tell you yesterday. I wrote in a short scene that could use you and your girlfriend. It will help set up for next season's opener and give a little foreshadowing. Have you worked out the logistics for the new character yet?"

John looked at Aracely and sighed. "Uh... we'll work on that. I promised the writers I'd give them some more stuff on Nick to work with too so... yeah... we'll work on that. I could give you something now, but I want everyone on set to be comfortable with their own characters and well... when do you need it?"

"Like yesterday! Just - just get it to me as soon as you can. Okay? No rush. But hurry up..."

"Yes Rodney, could you email that short scene to me? I'm curious now."

"Yeah yeah... well, talk to you later. Stay inside!"

"Yes, dad." John sighed and hung up.

"We still going to the movies tonight?" Aracely asked as she stood to dump her salad into a container to eat later. "Aiden and Cam are looking forward to hanging out with us."

"Of course we are," John nodded. "What movie are we going to watch anyway?"

"Not a clue. With those two, it could be anything from a children's film to a horror flick. How are you holding up?"

"I'm fine. I just feel sorry for Rodney to have discovered those packages... although it could have been Teyla seeing them, and that would have been far worse." He kissed the top of her head. "How are you feeling?"

"I am okay. Lost my appetite clearly," she chuckled. "Let's get some more work in before we have to get ready to go."

"Okay," he nodded and followed her downstairs to the studio, trying to ignore Banks, who was still on the phone looking frustrated and Kensi was looking at her emails with a worried look on her face.

For the rest of the afternoon, that is what they did. Continued to practice and piece together the routine where they could having had been a day ahead just by sheer luck. When Aracely decided to call it a night, so that they each could shower and change, they were met upstairs with a very unsettled Gibbs, Callen, and Sam.

"No. I still want to go out..." she said immediately.

"Fine, but he's staying." Gibbs pointed at John. "I just came from the LAPD to see what was sent to the studio and whoever sent those packages, have a serious axe to grind with you, and Dr. Getz fears that it won't stop with the packages and attempted poisoning."

"Getz is the criminal psychologist of the LAPD," Callen explained. "Considering that so far, most packages, envelopes and what not were focused on John, we don't think - at this point -, that you're in danger, Ace. However, nothing will change for you. If you leave the house, there's still going to be one or two of us following you around, just to be sure. _We_ can't promise John's safety at this point."

"Lock down." Gibbs said. "End of discussion."

"Look," John sighed as he saw the look on Ace's face, she was about ready to explode. "I understand. I really do, but this is ridiculous."

"Until the LAPD processed the packages and its contents and every minuscule detail of the boxes, you're not going anywhere. Feel free to invite people here to have a fun night, but you're not leaving."

Aracely sighed as she fell onto the couch and pulled over one of the throw pillows to wrap her arms around. "Please find who is ruining everyone's lives quickly. There is only so much that we can take before we snap."

"Mood wise, you've been very cooperative. I promise you, they're doing everything they can to connect the dots. Deeks informed me that they're looking at two, maybe three people calling all the shots, but he couldn't tell me anything else. Our job is to keep you safe." Hanna responded. "And so far, it looks like the threats made to Aracely in the beginning were done to throw the LAPD off their backs. The incident at lunch, was just that."

"But we're not sure," Callen added. "So that's why you still need us with you when you go out for the time being. Since the threats against John have risen, he's not going anywhere outside this house."

"Ugh," she answered as she pulled out her cell phone to shoot her friends a text that they were welcome to come over but they were officially put on lock down for anything other than the show. It was a slightly fibbed lie, as it was just John but she wasn't going to go anywhere without him.

He didn't know what had come over him but he felt all sorts of angry and the need to just run it off for a couple of miles. But he couldn't. "They're looking at Dave, aren't they?"

"It's a possibility." Gibbs said evenly after receiving looks from Callen and Hanna. "Don't worry, nothing is going to happen to you or Aracely."

John got his phone out of his pocket and tossed it to Gibbs. "Keep it, before I do something stupid."

"I'm going to clean up and change. You coming John?" she asked, after sending off her last message.

"No," he answered and handed his laptop over to Gibbs too. Gibbs looked at him with an odd look, but John ignored it. He knew, that if he had access to either his phone or his laptop, he'd call Dave - again -, and quite possibly make things a lot worse, and he'd feel a lot worse too. Right now, John was still angry, but also numb at the same time.

Sure, _this_ had been going on for weeks. Sure, Gibbs and his people had been around for just as long as that. Sure, they knew what they were doing. But for the first time, John really felt as if he had no other place to go, even though he was with Aracely.

He was in this shit, and she was knee deep in it with him. Yeah, his mind was probably going back to that dark scary place where he'd blame himself and where the 'what ifs' lived, but he couldn't stop it. He grabbed a pad of paper and a pen and sat down in one of the lazy chairs in corner of the living room.

She frowned but said nothing as she returned to her room, having just wished to have laid in bed with him but she understood that he was upset. After showering and pulling on a pair of sweats and extra thick socks, she made her way back downstairs to curl up on the sofa, just quietly watching everyone and their routines.

"Okay, so..." John got out of the chair and sat down next to Aracely. "I was thinking about some cool things we could do with your character, but I want you to think of a name for her first." He showed her a page of his writing, things crossed out and connecting to each other and it looked like some complicated building instruction from IKEA.

"Gibberish..." Ace said, pointing at the paper. "I thought you were a college graduate."

"I am, this is somewhat my thought process... I'll work it out later." he nodded. "So, name?"

"Whatever you think is appropriate," she shrugged. "Did the 'girl in the bed' have a name when I was there last time?"

"No," John chuckled. "But you won't be 'hot girl in bed' when you're on the show! Well, quite possibly you'll still be the 'hot girl in bed' but with a name this time."

Aracely didn't know anything of what to say. "Seriously, I haven't a clue as far as naming a character. I couldn't even name my hamster as a kid."

"Surely there must be names that you like."

"I like John Sheppard," she grinned as she curled up against him to lay her head on his shoulder and buried her cold hands under his shirt.

"Ah! Cold! I thought you took a shower?"

"I did and I'm cold now. Warm me up."

"One smelly space heater at your service," he nodded and softly kissed her. "For the record, I think Aracely is such a perfect name for you that it's hard to think of something else."

"So use my name. I guess a different last name would be in order regardless," she shrugged, trying to get as close as she could possibly get.

"No," he answered. "That's one thing I simply will not allow on the show. To name characters like their actors. I even went so far that we had this character in season one called Christian and the actor cast for it was a Chris, so I changed the character's name to Michael."

She looked up at him all confused. "You are one strange man John Sheppard."

"Some people say it's part of my charm," he grinned and softly kissed her. "What about Mara? You like that name? Or what about Kira?"

"I like Kira, for a dog," she commented. "Move on to something else. We can figure out a name later."

"Who in their right mind would call a dog 'Kira'?" John said confused as he shrugged. "Anyway, you're going to play Nick's silent partner in crime, we've already established that, but how long have they known each other? Where did they meet?"

When Aracely remained quiet, John continued. "You see, I have Nick being from San Francisco, he ran away from home when he was sixteen to Los Angeles. Maybe they could have met there? On the streets? Teaching each other tricks that they have picked up from their not so clean friends so they could survive before moving on to bigger cons?"

"That sounds good," she answered finally. "On again, off again girlfriend or just friends with benefits?"

"Best friends, boy/girl friend...friends with benefits... they basically say they're not together but they don't fool around with others either. They sort of... _grew_ attached to each other."

"Unofficially officially together but neither one broaches the subject," Ace nodded. "Got it."

"The idea is that she does everything Nick isn't able to do or that she gets information faster than he can, because women are basically more charming than guys." He pointed at a part of the paper he had scribbled on. "And of course... knows everything Nick knows."

She nodded as she looked at the paper trying to decipher the writing. "Sounds great. Now how is she going to work into the plot with the FBI agent always milling around Nick?"

"Well, Nick has a lot more freedom than Mike ever had. Mike was a convicted felon, Nick isn't. Small time stuff, sure, but he was never in jail longer than a month or three, and can appear very clean on the surface. This is going to be fun for the writers too, because Jason was always on Mike's case."

"Or he just wasn't caught," she grinned.

"Exactly," John laughed and looked up when the front doorbell rang. "Did you invite Cam and Aiden here?"

"I told them quickly by text what happened and said that we'd have to stay in because of it. It's possible they decided to come here. Aiden is like that," she said as Gibbs came through to get the door.

"Uh... if it's them I'm going to need a shower." John said, furrowing his brow. "I stink."

She raised an eyebrow at him, fighting the urge to come back with an 'I told you' type remark as she had went and showered right after rehearsal. Gibbs walked back in with their friends in tow, who had bags with microwave popcorn and several DVDs.

"Good evening you party people," Cam said with a big smile on his face and pointed at Aiden who was carrying in pizza's. "He and I don't like to take 'no, sorry' for an answer so if you can't come to the movies, some old ones will come to you."

"Hey guys," John said and quickly kissed Ace on the cheek. "I'll be right back," he said, getting up and running up the stairs.

"Do you believe this guy?" Aiden pointed at Gibbs. "He didn't want me to bring in these pizzas so we all can eat!"

"He doesn't let us go to Starbucks, let alone order take out. Imagine how we feel," she smiled as she stood in the middle of the living room. "So come in, make yourselves comfortable. Please tell me you got pineapple on one of those pies..."

"No Starbucks?" Cam whined. "Oh man! Yes! Aiden remembered you liked pineapple. We didn't know what John might like so we took a little of everything... we might went a little overboard."

She chuckled as she led the way into the kitchen. "Just put them anywhere. It'll all go, I'm sure. You guys eat like pigs anyway."

"You want to know what dance I got?" Cam smiled widely as he placed the bags on the counter and started put some popcorn in the microwave as Aiden opened the pizza boxes.

"Let me guess...rumba? So did we," she answered, reaching across to steal a piece of pineapple from one of the pies.

"Valencia has the moves like... wow... I'm actually impressed with her," Cam nodded.

"I got the chacha this week. Which is going to be... challenging. Elizabeth still moves like a stickfigure. I can't believe we're still in the competition." Aiden answered as he got a slice of pepperoni.

"Perhaps her brainiac people are helping to vote her in? We actually started on our routine already and it's going to be hot," Aracely shared. "John got very - uncomfortable with some moves."

"Yeah, knowing you... I can imagine," Cam grinned and opened one of the cans of beer. "I think we all are trying to up our game next week. You didn't belong in the bottom two."

"It happened. It certainly wasn't our best work but I'm not complaining. We sort of rushed the routine so I was sure at the end it wasn't going to be good," she admitted. "All we can do is try to do better and push forward."

"And you didn't have a great week either, and you were very busy..." Aiden said with a full mouth. "I heard though that Jordan and Everett Young had to bow out of the competition. The guy suffered from acute appendicitis last night, he's had surgery and is in hospital."

"That sucks, they were doing so good too," Aracely frowned as she picked at her slice that Cam passed her. "I don't remember other seasons having this many problems on the show."

"Oh there were problems, but minor ones. Like a sprained ankle or something, but nothing serious that someone had to be pulled out of the competition and then again, what you and John are going through is just extreme and very unfortunate."

"But you know... if someone leaves next week, that means they're going to surprise us with team challenges. Imagine the three of us ending up on one team!" Aiden grinned.

John smelled pizza when he was walking down the stairs in his jeans and a shirt. He hadn't bothered putting on socks or anything, he rarely got cold feet. "Hey guys," he said when he entered the kitchen. "Ohh pizza!" he cheered digging right into the closest open box.

"Enjoy," Aracely laughed, watching him as Gibbs and their bodyguards refused to get take out for them despite their yearning for good pizza and Chinese.

"Oh man..." John said happily as he plopped onto a chair next to Aracely.

Cam chuckled and shook his head. "Ah, the simple things in life! Beer, pizza... good company!"

"Amen!" she cheered, lifting her bottle of water.

"Hey John, now that I'm still sober I need to tell you something," Cam said seriously. "Ace doesn't have any brothers and Aiden and I are as close as her relatives as we can get. If you ever hurt her in any way, you better run away to Timbuktu."

Rolling her eyes, Aracely poured some of her water into her hand and splashed it into her friend's face. "Give him a break."

"No breaks are given." Mitchell replied as he took a sip of his beer. "Not after what Grodin put you through, not even with the shit you and John are dealing with now."

"I solemnly swear that I will not hurt Ace. And if I do, I think she is more than capable of breaking every single bone in my body herself," John replied nodding, taking a swig of the beer can Aiden had set down in front of him.

During their exchange, Aracely had grown a bit uncomfortable and slightly embarrassed at how freely they discussed her the way they did. "Come on guys. Enough. John was hurt just as much as I was in his relationship so I doubt he'd be willing to do something like that to me now. Please - let's just enjoy the food and watch the movies..."

"You mean we can take our messy pizza's to your living room?" Aiden grinned.

She turned her eyes onto him and narrowed them. "Yes...Just - hang on," she said before setting hers down and running up stairs to the linen closet to pull out a couple old, large towels. Bringing them back down she smiled as she handed each of them one. "Your bibs. Please use paper towels and plates as well."

Cam and Aiden seemed to be very comfortable in Ace's home, gathering up all the food and getting the plates out of the right cupboard, something John often still had problems with when grabbing a plate. Soon enough, they were all seated in the living room and some half stupid half brilliantly shot sci fi movie was playing on the TV while Cam and Aiden kept talking and teasing Ace.

"Shut up you dork," she repeated herself as she leaned against John as the movie played on. "If you don't shut up I'll tell everyone on TTL in the confessional how you _really_ prepare for the show."

"You wouldn't!" Aiden squeaked.

She gave him a devious smile. "Try me," she answered before turning to John and tugging him down to whisper the secret in his ear.

John grinned. "Really? He does that?"

"Oh yeah. I actually ran into him when I went myself. Come to find out from GiGi, he goes in there before _every_ show," she nodded.

"Geez man," he said apologetically to Aiden. "Maybe cutting down on the fat foods will help a lot with... that."

"I hate you. Both of you," Aiden sulked before settling back down and elbowing Cam to keep him from laughing.

"Yep, I think that when the time comes that John feels more comfortable around us, he and Ace are going to be a killer snark team." Cam snickered and quickly took a sip from his beer to stop himself from laughing.

"Well he _is_ a writer so snark should come easily one would think," Aracely blinked.

John grabbed some popcorn from the bowl Ace was holding tightly and was relieved that it seemed like none of them had realized it was an old sci-fi movie he once did for a friend. Of course, it was hard to recognize him with all the layers of prosthetics but still. It was slightly embarrassing and he was mentally kicking himself for having ever agreed to do it. "I can do snark," John nodded. "Just not entirely in the right mind set right now."

"I'm sure. Dude, if you want us to go so you two can - you know - just say the word. We understand," Cam replied, winking playfully. He was confident that they were aware it was just a tease and not an actual offer. They all wanted to watch movies and hang out. But still...

"Not that kind of mind set, but thanks," He nodded as he took a sip of his beer. "Where did you dig up this movie anyway?"

"Are you kidding? I live for obscure movies," Aiden responded with a grin. "They're usually quite good and you know you can find anything these days with the internet, if you know where to look of course."

"Yep, if you want something to be found, just ask Aiden." Cam nodded.

"I don't find your car keys though," the other man snickered. "Oh man, the special effects are so basic, so lame!"

Shrugging, John popped another popcorn in his mouth. "The dialogue is okay though, so is the directing, effects are just for show."

"Ah! You think they're lame too!"

"They probably didn't have a big budget, all I'm saying is that the effects shouldn't be the most important thing of a movie. It's an added bonus."

"Ugh, you're no fun." Aiden joked.

By the time Cam and Aiden left, it was midnight and John started to clean up the living room as Ace was half asleep on the couch. When he had tossed everything that needed to be tossed out and put dishes in to the dishwasher, he scooped Ace up in his arms and carried her up the stairs towards the bedroom.

Not bothering to change for the night, Aracely curled up against John in bed and smiled. "Tonight was fun," she said softly.

"Yep," he answered and pulled her closer to him. "They're really really loud though," he chuckled.

"It's Cam and Aiden. They would not be them if they weren't," she replied. "Did you have fun at least?"

"Yeah," he smiled and softly kissed her. "They're fun."

"Okay, time to rest. We have more hard work for the next couple days. I'd like to try to take Sunday off to rest if we can get the routine down before then."

"Sounds like a plan," John nodded. "Good night, Ace."

"Good night John," she smiled, tucking her head into his shoulder happily.


	20. Chapter 20

**Author's note: Our apologies! We still have a fair few chapters to post and a few more to write! Hope that this will tide you over in the meantime!**

**As always, whenever you see * followed by a 'username', it means it's a tweet. **

**Thank you for being patient with us, **

**Buggy & Meeko**

* * *

><p>John was extremely sore when he woke up on Friday. He and Ace had been dancing the entire day on Thursday and he was glad that he managed not to get extremely embarrassed by some of the dance moves, but it was going to be <em>challenging<em>, to say the least.

He hadn't been able to sleep very well after what happened on Wednesday and he was drinking a lot of coffee just to stay awake. He was on his fifth mug by the time the _Toe The Line_ crew showed up to film some more.

"No, John..." Aracely sighed as she put his hands on his shoulders. "Shoulders down! You need to relax. You can know the routine by now but you need to relax, I'm not going to hurt you. It's just a dance."

"I'm trying!"

"You're all closed off," she pouted. "Is that because all of a sudden Tim is here with the big scary camera?" John shrugged for an answer and blinked when Ace took off one of her tops and started to wrap it around John's head like a blindfold. "There. Big scary camera gone."

"But..."

"But what? No buts. You don't have to _see_ in order to dance. Especially the Rumba, it's a dance you have to _feel_. Rely on your knowledge of the steps. Trust me into not letting you walk into things. Relax, _feel_ the dance, feel the _love_." She placed her hands on his shoulders again and kept pressing them down until he released the tension in them. "Now, take a deep breath... good boy."

Half way through the dance Ace ripped off her shirt from his head and had a big smile on her face when she looked at him, looking adorable in her own special way, knowing full well that the camera was still there. "Don't look so sad, this is the dance of love, I already told you that." She stopped dancing and hopped in his arms, wrapping her legs around him and buried her hands in his hair.

"Two things. One; you desperately need a haircut," she laughed as she tugged on his hair. "Two, you're an actor. The least you could do is to try to look like you love me while we dance." She pulled his head closer to hers, looking deep into his eyes, seeing that John was about to crack up. "No, that's your 'I have to laugh so hard right now' look. Come on John, try to look as if you want to have sex with me." She tightened her legs around his waist. "I'm not letting go until you do that. Oh come on, that's not even close! Are you really an actor? What do you do when you have to do a love scene on your show? Oh that's cheap... but it works... for now." She grinned as she released her legs and hopped down on the floor. "You need a break?"

"I need coffee..." He was sure she was just playing around, like they had said they would when the camera's were there, but he actually liked it, having her all wrapped up around him like that.

"No coffee. Tea! Tea is good!"

"You're mean."

"If I were mean, then I'd only let you drink water. Now come on. What's really holding you back today? Besides the camera?" she asked, holding onto him tightly still.

"Lack of sleep?" He offered and sighed. "I don't know... I haven't been able to shake the feeling I had since... well since Wednesday."

"Ohh," Aracely nodded, letting him go. "Hey Tim? Can we get a few minutes or would you mind coming back later this afternoon?"

"Yeah, sure. No problem. I was thinking of grabbing a sandwich soon anyhow," the man smiled as he turned the camera off and set down in the corner of the room. "I'll be back for that."

After he left, she tugged on John's arm to sit with her along the mirrors and passed him a bottle of water. "We'll be fine. Whatever that stunt was, they are looking into it," she said, trying to assure him.

"I know..." he sighed as he sat down and opened the bottle of water. "It's just making it very hard for me to concentrate right now. I really miss just going out whenever I want or even our shopping trips with two of them accompanying us."

She laid her head on his shoulder. "We can see if they are willing to go somewhere further out. Where we wouldn't normally go and that is more quiet. Maybe Gibbs will be open to that."

"My house?" John snorted.

"If they can figure out a system that pleases them and lets us feel like caged rats, then yes. At least we would have a little more space to stretch our legs or get some fresh air."

"It's still beautiful out, great weather to have a barbecue on the back porch, dig our feet in the sand..." He took a sip of the water and smiled. "And trip over boxes... even just for a day, you know, it would be great... however, I might have to sell the house anyway... all of this made me realize that even though it's located in quite the lonely area, it's not safe enough."

She couldn't help but to frown. "Why sell it? It's a beautiful home. Once this is over, everything should return to normal, I hope at least. Give it some time."

"Yeah, maybe, we'll see," he smiled and took another sip. "How are you holding up?"

"As well as I can I suppose. It's a little easier on me I suppose as we are in my house and I have the studio to escape to. Not so much for you, having no space to call your own here really. Just a few more weeks and it will be over. Just have to have patience, yes?"

He nodded for an answer as he fumbled with the label on the bottle. "I'm sorry. I'll get out of this funk eventually."

"I believe you but if there is any way that I can help, do not think twice of asking. You got that?" Ace grinned as she poked him in his ribs playfully.

"I highly doubt you could wave your magical wand around and make it all go away, can you?" He grinned.

"No, but I can help you forget it for a pleasurable time later," she teased, her eyes sliding down his body pointedly.

"Oh! I can use my own magical wand!" He laughed and nearly spilled the water over himself. John looked up when the door opened and Torren ran in, yelling his name and then launching himself at John. "Ahhh!" he couldn't manage the water from the bottle being spilled all over him and Torren. "Hey Buddy! Look! You got us all wet!"

"I'm all better now! Mom says so!" Torren sat triumphantly on top of John's chest, smiling down on him.

"Well that's good, it sucks being sick, doesn't it?"

"No, it doesn't, I got to snuggle with Mommy all the time! Mommy had Daddy do everything! Although Daddy can't cook as well as mommy..." the boy replied thoughtfully and then looked at Aracely with a big smile on his face. "Hi!"

Ace laughed as she watched the boy climb over John like a jungle gym. "Hello there. Is your mom upstairs?" she asked, pushing herself up from the floor.

"Yes! She made her salmon meal for you to eat tonight!"

"Ohh did she now?" John grinned and tried to push Torren's foot away from his face. "Smelly feet!"

"Noo not smelly feet!" Torren screamed and climbed off John before starting to run around like a kid on a sugar rush.

"I think he had too much sugar..." John groaned as Torren's knee had hit a sensitive spot.

Aracely only laughed as she left them to their antics in the studio before making her way upstairs. Finding Teyla in the kitchen, putting the food she had brought into the oven, she smiled. "I don't think John is going to want to eat. He'll be needing an ice pack more than food after what your boy just did to him."

"John will live," Teyla said simply. "The man has to eat." She smiled at Aracely. "You look well."

"Thank you. We're surviving. They have us completely on lock down now after some recent events which makes things difficult but a couple of the guys were over this week and it's been good," she smiled.

"Yes, Rodney told me," she sighed and shook her head. "It kind of makes me scared of what I might find after I resume my duties after the weekend," she added and started to clear out the clean dishes in the dish washer. "It's just frustrating that it's obvious who's behind your troubles but they can't do anything yet because of the lack of evidence."

Aracely nodded as she took the plates from her to put into their cup-boards. "From what I can gather, he is not the smartest man. He will make a mistake, involve someone who won't be as loyal to him as he might think or leave something of himself behind. They will get him, I am sure of it."

Teyla stopped in the middle of getting the clean dishes out as she realized what she was doing. "Oh I'm so sorry..." she chuckled. "I'm so rude..."

"It's alright. I've actually gotten used to it. Banks and Kensi have the tendency to put everything away after they go food shopping for us so that we avoid going out. At first I was annoyed but now, not so much," Ace shrugged with a smile.

"I'm used to doing things for John, even when he was still married. Nancy didn't do anything really when she was at home but I just couldn't leave him with a dirty kitchen or without clean socks. It's not that he's lazy, he just gets a little forgetful at times," Teyla said apologizing. "Now that he has you... I should have asked for your permission first to you know, bring food over, clear out your dishwasher in your own home..." she chuckled. "Bring the screaming monkey indoors."

"It's fine. Really. I knew that when John and I decided that we were going to give us a shot, that all of that came with it. And it's nice to have some female friends too - I used to only really hang out with Cam and Aiden before but that was because we either danced together at some point or against each other."

"I completely understand your sentiment," Teyla chuckled. "Although John made sure that the crew and writers on _Masterminds_ is equally balanced between males and females, you just can't help but feeling a little... stuck."

John came into the kitchen with Torren slung over his shoulder. The boy was perfectly still. "I uhh... I think I broke him." He turned around so that Teyla could see his face, and John could feel Torren suppressing a giggle.

"I didn't bring any batteries with me, John." Teyla replied and shook her head. "But I definitely think you've broken him."

"What do you think, Ace?" John took Torren's arm and waved it around. "Broken?"

"Oh, most definitely."

"Okay, let's fire up the barbecue!" John cheered. "Food for all!"

"NO!" Torren squealed and started to trash around in John's hold on the boy. "I'm not broken! Don't eat me!"

"Are you sure? Because you look pretty edible to me," John said, spinning the boy around as he walked out of the kitchen and bared Torren's stomach. "I mean... look at that belly of yours! It's so inviting, so... tempting... must not... use it as a trumpet!" John put his mouth on Torren's belly and started to make trumpet sounds, making the kid burst out in laughter.

Aracely just stood there watching and laughing, unable to stop from thinking of all that his ex-wife lost in such a great man. He was wonderful with children and this little boy and the belief that he would make a wonderful father crept into her mind that forced her to look away to distract herself from such thoughts. "If you want to set up a video or something for him, you are more than welcome to. I have the television in the living room and in the spare bedroom upstairs. Unfortunately I do not have any kind of toys that he would like."

"Give it twenty more minutes, John will have Torren exhausted and napping on the couch," Teyla smiled warmly. "He's the best cure for the boy on a sugar rush with excess energy from being not allowed to do crazy things while he was sick."

"I believe it," she replied. "I need coffee. Would you like some?" she asked as she pulled out a single serving device from the corner as she looked through the different flavors she had. "Watch John come running when he smells the first cup," Ace grinned as she grabbed a stronger blend for the man.

"Yes, coffee sounds great, thank you." Teyla laughed. "Yes, John does like his coffee. I don't know anyone else who likes to drink it as dark and often as he does when he's at work."

"Well, that's it then, the boy has left me," John sighed as he walked into the kitchen. "He's made a new friend, Tim the camera guy. Oh coffee!"

Aracely passed the cup over to him before popping one in that Teyla selected. "That wouldn't be a bad idea for extra footage this week," she mused. "Get the kid to play along and … Hey! Do you want to see our routine for this week?" she asked, turning to the woman with a grin.

"No, you're not making me do _that_ in front of Teyla. It's fine if Rodney sees it, but on Monday, the TV is off limits for Teyla!" John objected.

"You'll be doing _that_ on live television Monday night. And you know she's going to watch it regardless," Ace sighed. "He's lost his balls somehow this week."

"Aw no!" Teyla said shocked. "And here I thought you had helped him find them! The sex must be awful now!" She snickered.

"Hey! Still here!" John sat down on the chair next to Teyla and eyed Aracely. "Put salt in her coffee instead of sugar, she deserves it."

"The sex has been great. Just I can't be all that of an active participant this week. Considering we have the rumba, it makes it harder for him at night after a long day of rehearsal."

"Rumba? Now this I have to see!" Teyla smiled widely and quickly hugged the small pot of sugar before John could take it away from her. "Oh come on John, I've seen you in more embarrassing situations than a rumba before."

Aracely looked over at him and grinned into her cup of cocoa as she stood back, waiting. "You know I also have an extra pair of tickets. Maybe you and your husband would like to come Monday night, if you find a babysitter at least."

"Oh we'd love to, thank you! I'm certain Kanaan's mother is able to babysit Torren on Monday night."

"Then its set. I'll call and let them know to have your tickets at the door for you like last time," she nodded.

John wished that Ace had spiked his coffee with alcohol. "You two..."

"Are going to be the death of you, yes." Teyla said with a mischievous grin on her face. "But we'll hold off on the death part, for now. Now, drink your coffee, I want to see you practice."

"BANKS!" John called out, lowering his head onto the table.

It didn't take long for the man to make his way in. "What's up?"

"Shoot me? Please. They are trying to kill me _slowly_. You can do it much faster," the man replied, only to get snickers from the women.

"Aww, the little ladies trying to kill you with kindness?" Banks teased. "Sorry, I'm absolutely forbidden to shoot women unless they pose a threat to you... which means I can't shoot you because you're my job at the moment. These lovely ladies are harmless, and that's my professional opinion."

"You suck."

"Yep." Banks answered smug as he leaned against the doorpost.

"What day is it today anyway?"

"It seems like it's the 'get John's balls back day'." Banks nodded and pointed at the camera in the corner of the kitchen. "These got mics. It's been very entertaining so far."

Aracely raised an eyebrow as soon as she stopped laughing. "Just how many locations around the house do you have these?" she asked.

"Kitchen and living room, ma'am. The other locations don't have microphones, just in case something happens when we're not in the room or when you're trying to hide a phone conversation with say... someone you shouldn't talk to." Banks replied. "Don't worry, everything that's being said within these walls stay within the walls, and if the footage of the day isn't showing any threat, it gets erased. But Gibbs told you we were discrete, didn't he?"

"Still doesn't mean it doesn't make us uncomfortable," she answered, shivering the thoughts of what could have been heard.

"I know, and I understand. It's just that in our experience, most intelligence can be gained from casual conversations like these. But, if you're really uncomfortable with it, I suggest you let John tell Gibbs." He said smugly with a playful smile on his lips.

"Why John? It's my house..."

"He might find his balls again." Banks deadpanned, which made Teyla laugh out loud.

"You guys aren't helping." John said, getting off the crutch while holding his cup of coffee. "I'm going to see if Torren manages to keep Tim in one piece," he said, leaving the kitchen.

"No, but seriously?" Banks said to Aracely. "If you want, we'll turn off the mikes."

"If you wouldn't mind," she smiled at him. "I understand your need to work but some conversations I'd rather keep between those involved at the time."

'Yeah, no worries." he nodded. "I'll get right on it."

As soon as John was finished with his coffee, he started to look for Torren, who was obviously playing hide and seek. He eventually found him underneath the living room table, sleeping soundly. He gently pulled Torren from underneath the table and placed him on the couch, pulling one of the blankets over Torren.

Aracely had made her way from the kitchen while Teyla continue to putter around to satisfy her mother hen nature. She couldn't help but to smile at the sight of John tucking the boy in and quietly made her way through and upstairs to her room, catching his eye in the process.

"Sorry Tim," John said softly, not wanting to wake the sleeping Torren. "I don't think we'll be rehearsing any more today."

"That's fine, want me to come round tomorrow then? I'm not sure if we have enough footage for the show."

"Yeah that's fine." He replied and nodded. "Show yourself out? I'm going to take a nap myself."

"Will do, enjoy the rest of your day."

"You too, Tim." John walked up the stairs and watched how Ace was stuffing the washing machine with dirty clothes. "Are you okay?"

She looked up with a smile. "Yeah, I'm good. How are you holding up?" she asked before adding the soap and turning the machine on. Making her way over to him, she slid into his arms, wrapping hers around his waist - almost as if they simply fit together perfectly.

"I'm good... I just feel like I need more coffee now and I can't wait until Teyla's salmon dish is finished because I'm famished," He smiled at her as he caressed her hair.

"You are really good with the kid," she commented, dropping a kiss to his neck. "Did you ever think of having children with Nancy?"

John chuckled. "Torren's very easy to please, I mean... even Rodney would be able to handle him." He rolled his eyes at her. "Yeah, Nancy and I talked about it, a lot. Mostly after family dinners because her family was pushing for a baby. We got married after we graduated college, and five years into the marriage, her family wanted us to make the perfect baby," he said thoughtfully. "Mind you, it would have been a very rich baby if we would have had one and would die the next day, but Nancy didn't want to hear it. She didn't like kids. Said they were messy and stuff. I, at the time, didn't want to be pressured into something just for the sake of old money and what not. I wasn't ready either."

"For what it's worth, I think you would have made a wonderful father and hope you do get that one day," she said, taking his hand to head back to the bedroom to crawl into bed, after suppressing a large yawn.

"No no no, no sleeping," he chuckled. "If we take a nap now, we'll definitely be awake all night. Besides, Teyla is downstairs. Wouldn't be much fun for her if we'd take a nap." He pulled her back towards him and grinned. "Although I'm really tired, why am I contradicting myself?"

"I do not know but shut up and get in bed. She is more than welcome to crash for awhile herself if she wants but I cannot keep my eyes open much longer," Aracely cried into a slight whine.

"Then take a nap," he softly kissed her. "I'll keep Teyla some company and I'll wake you when food's ready."

* * *

><p>Of course, Gibbs didn't think it was a good idea for them to spend Saturday at John's home so they didn't go and instead practised some more. John realized that he somehow 'understood' the dance better than that Viennese Waltz they did in the first week, and he wasn't really embarrassed or uncomfortable, mostly because it was because Ace was with him, but he still expected him to feel awkward on Monday.<p>

On Sunday, they both live tweeted while watching the _Masterminds_ episode with Ace in it. John loved the editing, and Gerald's directing was superb as always. When the point in the episode where 'Nick' was in bed with a 'hot girl', John started to blush. It was way hotter than he thought it would look.

***AcieMoe:** Ow how cute! Would you look at that! *ShepFlight1 is sitting next to me, his cheeks are beet red! #Masterminds

***ShepFlight1:** That was hot. #Masterminds

***ShepFlight1:** She was a natural, that *AcieMoe. Gerald is such a great director, I'm so grateful for him! He makes us all look good #Masterminds

***NotAPilotJim:** Am watching #Masterminds. *AcieMoe and *ShepFlight1 should definitely get a room.

***meekobb:** OMG that was... an amazing scene. #Masterminds

***BetterThanTheCar:** If you think that that scene was hot, wait until they do the Rumba tomorrow, knowing *AcieMoe, it will be something alright! #Masterminds #ToeTheLine


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